


Until Dawn: Back to the Nightmare

by theaterman007



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Epilogue, F/M, Insanity, Literature, Post-Game(s), Rescue Missions, Romance, Supernatural Elements, Survival Horror, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 70,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7549534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theaterman007/pseuds/theaterman007
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael "Mike" Munroe has been trying to put the events of Blackwood Mountain behind him. Unfortunately one event in particular keeps haunting his nightmares. He can't help but wonder if his friend Josh might still be alive. Determined to find out once and for all, Mike decides to return to the mountain and must once again face the horrors that lurk up there.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: The universe this story takes place in and the characters who occupy it are the property of Supermassive Games and Sony Computer Entertainment.</p>
<p>Cover image used with permission by Bembiann. Check out her gallery at <a href="http://bembiann.deviantart.com/">bembiann.deviantart.com/</a> for more amazing Until Dawn artwork.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

"Just wait in here Michael."

Michael "Mike" Munroe entered the room the officer brought him to. To his relief it wasn't another interrogation room like the one he had been in for the last few hours. This room looked more like it was somebody's office. He took a seat on a couch and let out a frustrated sigh. The room was nice but it was hard for him to like it since he didn't know why he was there in the first place.

"You haven't told me why I'm still here," he said stopping the officer from leaving, "the detective said that she didn't have any more questions for me so why can't I go home yet?"

"Couldn't tell you," the officer replied, "I was just told by one of the other detectives that there was someone here who wanted to see you and that I was supposed to bring you in here to wait for them. Before you ask, I don't know who the person that wants to see you is either. Just wait in here and someone will be with you shortly."

With the officer gone, there was nothing for Mike to do but wait and think about everything that had happened in the past thirteen hours…which was the last thing he wanted to do.

A few days ago, Mike and six of his friends were invited by their friend, Joshua "Josh" Washington, to spend a weekend at the mountain estate Josh's family owned. Most of the group had been nervous about going because exactly one year ago they were at the same location when something terrible happened. On that day, they had pulled a prank on Josh's sister Hannah who, embarrassed because she fell for it, ran out into the woods. She was followed by Beth, Josh's other sister and Hannah's twin, who went out to comfort her. Neither one of them were seen again. Coming back to the estate on the anniversary of the twins' disappearance seemed creepy to the group but they wanted to be there for Josh and the weekend retreat was planned. The weekend didn't last more than one night and that night had become the longest and most horrific night of Mike's life.

For the past few hours, Mike had been recapping to the police the events that followed the group's arrival at the estate the previous night. First he talked about how his girlfriend, Jessica had been abducted from the guest cabin they were staying in and how he found her badly wounded in the nearby abandoned mines before watching her fall down an elevator shaft. Then he recounted how the group found out that Josh had actually brought them up to the mountain to subject them to a psychological prank where he pretended to be a psychopath who was stalking and attempting to kill them. Josh claimed it was all just a prank and that he wasn't actually going to hurt anyone but the revelation made Mike believe that Josh had killed Jessica. He decided for the safety of the group that Josh was to be tied up in the neighboring shed and the group would wait in the lodge for the authorities they called to arrive in the morning.

It was after that part of the story that the interview began to get complicated. Mike was unsure about how much he should tell the police about what happened next because he didn't know if the police would even believe him. If Mike hadn't been there and saw what happened himself, even he would think his story was crazy. Ultimately he decided to tell the truth. If the police thought he was crazy, so be it. People needed to know what monstrosities were on that mountain. They needed to know about what took the lives of Jessica, Josh and his friends Matt, Chris, Emily and Ashley so that no one would ever go up to Blackwood Mountain again and possibly go through a similar, terrible experience.

Starting with after he tied Josh up in the shed, Mike explained that a stranger came to the lodge to warn him and his friends that they were still in danger. According to the stranger, the mountain was home to a curse that turned people who resorted to cannibalism into monsters called wendigos. Wendigos were nocturnal monsters with incredible speed, strength and a hunger for human flesh. Hearing the story made Mike realize that it was actually a wendigo and not Josh that took Jessica. The stranger instructed Mike and his friends to hide in the basement until dawn. Mike however felt that hiding just made them sitting ducks for the wendigos and left the lodge to find Josh, who Mike believed had to have the key that operated the mountain's cable car. Unfortunately Josh had been abducted from the shed and Mike was forced to go into the mines to look for him. He eventually found the wendigo's den where Josh and the key were located. He then began leading Josh out of the mines but they were attacked by a wendigo that was hiding in a lake they had to cross through. The wendigo went after Mike first but he managed to break free and find a safe spot to hide. His initial thought was to go out and help Josh but he was stopped when he heard Josh screaming. There was nothing Mike could do as he heard Josh's scream suddenly cease and the wendigo leave the area. Saddened by losing Josh, Mike went back to the lodge to meet up with his friends and await rescue. Unfortunately he found that some of the wendigos had managed to get inside the lodge. As fire was the only thing that could kill wendigos, Mike took advantage of a gas leak caused by the wendigos to set off an explosion that set the whole lodge on fire and killed the wendigos inside. The rescue helicopters arrived immediately afterward and Mike was evacuated from the mountain and brought to the police station he was in now.

The detective interviewing him didn't say anything as Mike told his story but Mike could tell by her expression that she didn't believe him. She probably thought he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and it was causing him to remember things that didn't really happen. That was probably why Mike was not sure he could even believe the detective when she said she would take his warnings about the mountain into consideration when deciding the next course of action for her investigation. Still Mike silently prayed that she would keep people away from the mountain as there were likely still some wendigos alive up there.

Now as Mike continued waiting in the office, a tear fell down his face. The toughest part about reliving the whole ordeal was it made him relive the deaths of his friends. Besides Jessica and Josh, four more of his friends were killed during the events of the previous night. Matt was the first to die after Jessica. He was with Emily in a fire tower where they managed to alert the authorities to the groups' plight. Suddenly the tower fell over and Matt and Emily were separated. It was unclear what had happened to Matt afterwards but Mike finding his body in the wendigo's den confirmed he didn't survive.

The next to die was Chris. While the rest of the group did what the stranger suggested and hid in the basement, Chris chose to go out with the stranger and rescue Josh who was still tied up in the shed. Unfortunately they were attacked by a wendigo shortly after arriving there. The wendigo killed the stranger but Chris was able to make a break for the lodge. Mike and Ashley, Chris' crush, were waiting in the lodge to let Chris back inside. For a moment it looked like Chris was going to make it. Then, the wendigo managed to pin Chris down and severed his head. As Chris' head rolled towards the lodge, Ashley fell down to her knees in tears while Mike struggled to keep his composure so that he could get Ashley down to the basement with the others.

Similar to Matt, Mike didn't know what exactly happened to Ashley. He had left her in the basement with their friend Sam. Shortly after Mike left to look for Josh, Ashley and Sam left the basement to warn Mike about the wendigos he was going to run into on the way. At some point, the two got separated. It wasn't until Mike and Sam made it to the wendigo's den that he found Ashley's severed head confirming that she was dead too.

Besides Jessica's death, Emily's death was the one that haunted Mike the most. Unlike the others who were killed by wendigos, it was Mike who was responsible for Emily's death. While hiding in the basement and before Mike left to get the cable car key, it was discovered that Emily had been bitten by a wendigo before she returned to the lodge after her trip to the fire tower. Both Mike and Ashley were concerned that the bite might have been infectious and Emily would soon turn into a wendigo. Despite Emily saying she was fine, Mike gave her a choice to either leave the basement or he was going to shoot her with a gun he found when exploring the sanatorium. Emily refused and before Mike knew what happened, he had pulled the trigger and shot Emily in the head. Though initially distraught over what he had just done, Mike rationalized that he did what he had to so that Sam and Ashley would be safe. To his horror however, he later learned from Sam that Ashley had found an entry in the stranger's journal that said a wendigo bite was not infectious. In short, he had killed Emily for nothing.

A new thought then entered Mike's head. When it was initially believed that the group was being stalked by a psychopath, he had told Sam that before he went after the psycho, he wanted to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for. Even after it was revealed that the wendigos were the real threat, Mike's primary concern was getting his friends off the mountain. With all but one of his friends now dead, Mike felt as if he had failed. Worse still, he felt that he was partially responsible for their deaths. He failed to save Jess, Chris went out to get Josh who was only tied up in the shed because Mike suggested it, Ashley was killed helping Sam locate Mike, he failed to save Josh in the mines and, of course, he unnecessarily killed Emily. Even though he couldn't blame himself for Matt's death, everything else still made Mike wonder whether he deserved to be alive when he couldn't save his friends.

Mike shook his head to snap himself out of his train of thought and focus on the question that was currently bothering him. Who could possibly be wanting to see him? It couldn't be his parents. They were out of town on business. Before Mike could consider any other possibilities, the door to the office opened and Mike gasped when he saw who was on the other side.

"Jessica?"

It was his girlfriend Jessica. She was alive. Mike could just make out the scratches he saw on Jessica before she fell down the shaft but other than that and some new minor injuries she was alive.

"Mike!" Jessica said as she ran to Mike and hugged him.

Mike didn't do anything right away as he was still surprised to see Jessica alive. After watching her fall down the elevator shaft, he thought for sure that she was dead. He was then snapped out of his thought when he heard Jessica crying. Tears started forming in his eyes too as he wrapped his arms around her. For the first time in hours, Mike was happy. His girlfriend was alive and in his arms again.

"Oh Jess," he said, "I thought I'd lost you."

"I thought I'd lost you too Mike. When the detective that was questioning me said that you were here, I told him I wasn't answering any more questions until I saw you. Oh Mike, thank God you're all right."

Mike and Jessica broke their hug and it was only then that Jessica saw Mike's own injuries.

"Mike," she gasped, "what happened to you?"

"I should be asking you the same question," Mike replied, "Jess, you fell down an elevator shift. How did you survive?"

Jessica bowed her head, "I…I don't remember much. After I was dragged into the mines and fell down that shaft, I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I tried to find my way out when I was suddenly being chased by….some kind of….you're going to think I'm crazy."

"Some kind of monster." Mike said finishing Jessica's sentence.

Jessica looked at Mike with surprise, "yes, how did you know?"

"It's called a wendigo. I promise I'll explain how I know that but it's a long story and this isn't the place for me to tell it. What happened next?"

Jessica wanted to ask Mike more questions but decided to trust he would answer them later and continued her story, "well the…wendigo…chased me but I was able to lose it when I found a way out of the mines. I don't remember ever being as happy to see the sun as I was when I got out of there. A helicopter found me shortly afterward and brought me here."

A thought entered Mike's head. Jessica fell down the elevator shaft sometime around midnight. The events that happened after she regained conscious probably happened over the course of an hour and not much more. If she was seeing the sunrise at that time, that meant she was unconscious in the mines for more than four hours. Which meant that…

"You were alive in the mines the whole time?"

"Yeah, why?"

Now it was Mike who was bowing his head, "Jessica I was in those mines several times last night. I could have found you but I didn't even look for you. As far as I knew you were dead. I'm glad you're alright but…I left you in those mines all by yourself. I failed you Jess. If you had died down there it would have been my fault. I don't deserve to be with you Jess. You need someone who will be there for you."

Mike sat back down on the couch and buried his face in his hands. Jessica sat down next to him and put an arm around him.

"But you were there for me Mike," she said, "when I was dragged from the cabin, you came for me. Most guys would have just stood there too afraid to do anything. But you tried to rescue me even though it meant risking your own life. When I was down in the mines, the thing that kept me going was wanting to see you again."

Jessica then pulled Mike's hands away from his face and guided his head so it was facing her.

"I love you, Mike."

When those words hit Mike's ears, he smiled. He then leaned towards Jessica and the two kissed. The kiss lasted for several seconds before Mike broke it to say, "I love you too, Jess."

For a minute, the two sat on the couch just staring at each other. The two of them were together again and for a brief moment they had forgotten about the horrors they had experienced on the mountain. They could have stayed on the couch forever just looking at each other. Unfortunately the mood was interrupted when the officer who had brought Mike to the office peeked inside and cleared his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, "Jessica, the detective said that he doesn't have any more questions for you at this time. There's a doctor waiting out here to take one last look at your injuries. If he says your injuries don't require hospitalization, then you'll be free to go. Michael, you're free to go now if you want."

Mike looked at Jessica for a second and then back to the officer, "if it's okay, I'd like to stay with Jessica."

The officer smiled, "I understand. If you both will follow me, I'll take you to the doctor."

Mike and Jessica got up from the couch and followed the officer out of the office. They walked past the detective bullpen and some interview rooms. The doctor they were going to see was waiting for them in the last interview room they past. Before they went inside, Mike noticed out of the corner of his eye someone sitting on a bench further down the hall. He turned to get a better look and saw that it was his friend Sam.

Besides being the only other survivor who got off the mountain, Sam was also the best friend of Josh's sister Hannah. When Hannah and Beth disappeared, Sam was the one Josh would talk to. The two of them became close over the past year and Mike even felt that there might have been something more going on between them. As Mike looked at Sam sitting on the bench, he knew that he needed to talk to her. It was bad enough that she lost her best friend only last year. Now that Josh and the rest of their friends were gone too, she must have been a wreck. Talking to her was the least Mike could do for her. After all, she was the one who saved his life.

In order to blow up the lodge to kill the wendigos, Mike had to break open a lightbulb. The plan was to then turn on the light and its exposed wires would spark and ignite the gas that was filling up the room. When he broke the lightbulb, it caught the attention of one of the wendigos. Sam could have taken the opportunity to flee but instead she called the wendigo over to her where she played a game of cat and mouse that bought Mike the time he needed to get to the exit. Once Mike was clear, Sam made a break for the door herself. Thanks to the fact that her actions had inadvertently caused the wendigos to fight each other, she was able to reach the door safely. She turned on the light as she exited thus igniting the gas. If it hadn't been for Sam's quick thinking, Mike probably wouldn't have survived that night.

"Is something wrong, Mike?"

Mike turned back to Jessica who was sitting on a table being looked over by the doctor and looking at Mike with a concerned expression.

"I don't know," Mike replied, "I just saw Sam down the hall. She doesn't look too good. Do you mind if I go over and talk to her for a minute. I'll be right back."

Jessica nodded, "go ahead. Tell her I'm glad she's okay."

"Will do."

Leaving Jessica with the doctor, Mike slowly made his way over to Sam. As he got closer, he could see that Sam appeared to be in worse shape than he thought. She was just staring into space and would likely jump at the slightest unexpected sight or noise. Mike quietly said Sam's name when he was close enough for her to hear him. Sam didn't react. Mike's next move would have been to tap her shoulder but he really didn't want to make her jump. So he said her name again a little louder than before. This time, Sam snapped out of whatever thought she was having and turned to face Mike.

"Hey Mike," Sam said before returning her gaze to the space in front of her.

The tone in Sam's greeting made Mike more concerned. This was their first time seeing each other since they arrived at the police station several hours ago but she didn't seem to show any happiness about seeing him again. There also didn't appear to be any indication of sadness in her voice over what happened to Josh. The greeting almost sounded…stoic. Mike was beginning to feel that trying to talk to Sam was going to be like walking through a minefield but he had to keep going.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked pointing to the empty spot on the bench.

Sam didn't give any verbal response. Instead she shrugged her shoulders and nodded towards the empty seat. Mike took it to mean that he could sit down and sat next to Sam. Before he could think of what to say next, Sam spoke first.

"Was that Jessica I saw you with?" she asked.

Mike nodded, "yes, it was. A doctor's with…."

"I thought you said she was dead," Sam interrupted as she suddenly turned to face Mike again causing him to jump.

"Take it easy Sam," Mike replied trying to keep Sam calm, "I thought she was dead. The last time I saw her, she was in a mine elevator when it dropped down the shaft really fast. I didn't know she was alive until just a few minutes ago when she walked into an office I was waiting in. She's lucky to be alive. Not just because she fell down an elevator shaft but she told me she narrowly escaped a monster that chased her in the mines. She wasn't with us when that flamethrower guy told us about the wendigos so she didn't know the stuff that we did about them. It's a miracle she managed to escape it."

Sam stared at Mike for a second and then turned back to face in front of her, "it certainly sounds like it. It also sounds like you jumped the gun in assuming she was dead. Are you sure you didn't do the same with Josh?"

There it was. Confirmation that Mike was right. Sam was upset about what happened to Josh. Even worse, she was blaming Mike for it. Not that he could blame her. He was the one who left Josh tied up in the shed making him a sitting duck for the wendigo. With Sam's help, Mike did find Josh later in the mines but Sam took another path back to the lodge leaving Mike and Josh alone to go back to the lodge through the way Mike entered the mines. Since Sam wasn't there when the wendigo attacked Mike and Josh, it made sense she would doubt whether Josh really was killed down there.

"Sam," Mike said, "I told you what happened down there. There was nothing I could do. If I had tried to help I probably would have been killed too. I'm sorry Sam but I don't think there's any way Josh could have survived."

Sam sighed, "if you say so."

Mike waited for the tears to come but none did. Sam just continued staring in front of her. How was she not showing any kind of emotional reaction? She had been through so much last night and lost someone that she cared about. Yet it looked like she wasn’t affected by either of those things in the least. Mike wanted to keep talking to try and find out more about what was going on in Sam's head but decided against it. Sam was not acting like she was in a talking mood. With no other choice, Mike got up from the bench.

"I'm going to go check on Jess," he said, "she asked me to tell you she's glad you're okay. Look Sam, if you need someone to talk to, Jess and I will…"

"I'm fine," Sam interrupted.

"Sam it's okay. We've all been through a lot. I'm just saying it might help if we…"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Sam shouted attracting the attention of some officers that were in the hallway with them.

"Okay," Mike said calmly trying to show everyone watching there was no problem, "I'm done. See you later Sam."

Mike started making his way back to the room Jessica was in when Sam spoke again, "the police are going to search the mines for Josh."

The comment made Mike freeze in his tracks. He turned back to protest but stopped when he noticed that Sam had an almost creepy looking smile on her face.

"I told them they needed to go down there and they said they would concentrate their search efforts there," Sam continued.

Mike couldn't believe what he had just heard. Sam actually encouraged the police to go to the mines even though she knew what lived down there. He had spent the majority of his interview telling the police to make sure no one even went up the mountain let alone into the mines. It didn't matter if the police went up there with assault rifles and wearing body armor. Unless they had flamethrowers and knew wendigos' sight were keyed on movements, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Are you crazy Sam?" he asked. "They need to stay off that mountain. They don't know what's up there."

"They will soon enough."

There was nothing left for Mike to say. He wasn't sure if he even recognized the girl that was sitting in front of him anymore. True an experience like what they had been through would change anyone but could it really change a person that much. Sam was always a caring person who always looked out for the well-being of others. She even tried to warn Hannah about the prank that Mike and the others pulled on her last year. Now she was casually sending people into the hellhole that killed five of their friends and didn't care at all what might happen to them up there. After saying another reluctant farewell to Sam, Mike walked away.

On his way back to Jessica, Mike agonized over what to do. The police had to be stopped from going into the mines. But what could he do? He already tried to tell them about the wendigos but the police didn't seem to take his warnings seriously. If he continued to protest, they would probably just declare him insane and put him in a mental institution. It might not be as bad as the sanatorium he explored on the mountain but there was no way he was letting himself end up in a place like that. As much as it pained Mike to think it, there just wasn't anything he could do. Whatever the police decided to do the next few days was out of his hands. There was only one thing for him to do now. One thing that he needed to do. He needed to try and put the events of the previous night behind him and get on with his life. It sounded like an impossible task considering what he went through but as long as he had Jessica by his side, Mike was convinced that it could be done.


	2. Nightmare

 

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

_Wintertime on Blackwood Mountain and Mike was having to walk in ice cold water that went up to his waist…again. If it wasn't for the fact that walking through the water was the only way for him to get out of the mines, he would have avoided the water like a plague._

_If the water wasn't bad enough, Mike was becoming slightly irritated listening to the sounds of Josh's muttering behind him. When he and Sam had found Josh in the wendigo den, he was screaming and shouting at people that weren't really there. Mike had to slap Josh just to get him to focus long enough to give them the key to the mountain's cable car. Sam then found a cliff that she could climb up to get out of the mines. Unfortunately with the state Josh was in, he was not going to be able to make the climb. Sam agreed to make the climb alone and planned with Mike to meet back at the lodge. Mike meanwhile would take Josh back out the way he and Sam entered the mine._

_Josh had not stopped muttering since they started making their way out of the mine. Mike was starting to worry that Josh's muttering would attract the attention of any nearby wendigos. Being in waist deep water made them sitting ducks if they were to be attacked. He was about to turn to silence Josh when something caught his eye. The water they were in was pretty calm but he thought he had seen a ripple like a person would see if something was moving just below the surface. He held up his hand to tell Josh to stop moving. Fortunately Josh was coherent enough to pick up on Mike’s signal and froze though his muttering continued. Mike watched the spot where he saw the ripple for what felt like several minutes waiting to see if it would appear again. A couple of options for how he and Josh could proceed went through his head and none of them were good. If there was something in the water with them, running would just make it jump out and attack. But if they remained where they were, they could freeze to death before the thing in the water moved on. Deciding that he'd rather get the situation over with as soon as possible, Mike waved Josh forward instructing him to proceed._

_They barely took a couple of steps when Mike felt something brush against his leg. Before he had any chance to react, he was dragged underneath the water. All Mike could think to do was remain still. There was no doubt that it was a wendigo that was attacking him so his only hope was that its movement based sight would be fooled by him not moving and it would leave him alone. Though he was keeping still, his eyes searched for his attacker. It was hard for him to see well under the water but he was soon able to make out the shape of his attacker. It was huge, easily the biggest wendigo he had seen that night. Finally the wendigo let go of him and swam away. Before it did, Mike thought he could see something on its right shoulder. Was it a butterfly? It looked familiar but Mike didn't bother thinking about it further as he slowly swam towards the water's edge. When he reached it, he surfaced and attempted to find Josh._

_"NO YOU'RE NOT REAL! NO, YOU'RE NOT…!"_

_The sound of Josh's screaming made Mike press his back against a rocky wall to hide himself. Frozen with indecision, all he could do was listen as Josh's screaming grew louder like he was in extreme pain. Mike didn't want to know what the wendigo was doing to Josh to make him scream like that. Then he heard what sound like something being crushed followed by complete silence. Did the wendigo just crush Josh's head? It was a likely explanation for the crushing sound Mike had heard. When the silence was broken by the sound of the wendigo moving again, Mike finally got enough courage to peek from his hiding spot. He watched as the wendigo headed back towards its den dragging Josh's body behind it. He then pressed back against the wall again and waited for the wendigo to leave, all the while shaking due to both fear and the freezing water. As soon as he was convinced the coast was clear, he climbed out of the water and continued his way out of the mines._

_"Mike."_

_Mike stopped when a soft voice called out his name. It sounded like Sam's but that couldn't be possible. She was on her way to the lodge._

_"Mike," the voice called again._

_Impossible as it seemed, Mike was now convinced that it was Sam's voice. It was then that Mike also realized that there was something familiar about this situation. Being in the mines, walking with Josh through the ice cold water, the wendigo attacking them, Mike felt as if he had experienced all of them before. But the voice was different. As far as Mike could tell, he never heard Sam's voice calling him in the mines._

_Suddenly Mike felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped as he turned to see who's hand it was. He gasped when he saw that it was Jessica. What was she doing there? Again this was something Mike didn't recall happening when he was in this situation before. Before Mike could question the situation further, a light shined on Jessica and Sam's voice spoke again._

_"You jumped the gun in assuming SHE was dead. Are you SURE you didn't do the same with Josh?"_

_Mike was then temporarily blinded by another light. When the light faded, Mike was back in the water and behind his hiding spot._

_"NO YOU'RE NOT REAL! NO YOU'RE NOT…!"_

_"Josh?" Mike thought._

_Mike peeked out from his hiding spot and sure enough, there was Josh being confronted by the wendigo just like before. This time Mike managed to keep watching as the wendigo grabbed Josh and was about to pick him up. Then Josh did something that he didn't do before._

_"HANNAH!" he cried._

_Mike gasped again, "did he say Hannah? Why would he…? The butterfly!"_

_The pieces in Mike's head now came together. It WAS a butterfly he saw on the wendigo's shoulder. He remembered seeing a butterfly tattoo on Hannah's shoulder the night he and his friends played the prank. Then he remembered the journal he and Sam found that was written by Hannah. In it, Hannah recorded her time spent waiting for rescue and her growing hunger as the days went by. After weeks had passed and unable to take the hunger anymore, she said she had no choice but to do something terrible and she hoped Beth would forgive her. The remaining entries devolved into unreadable scribbles. Mike wanted to deny the interpretation that Sam gave him of the entries but with the revelation of the tattoo on the wendigo, he couldn't anymore. The wendigo that was attacking Josh….was Hannah._

_Hearing Josh call her name caused Hannah to stop her attack and look at Josh with a contemplating expression. Mike didn't know a lot about wendigos other than what the stranger told him back at the lodge and from the items in the stranger's bag. Was it possible that Hannah still had some of her human thoughts and feelings even though she was now a wendigo? It seemed to be true as she appeared to recognize Josh. Hannah then moved back towards the wendigo den dragging Josh behind her._

_"NOOOO! NOOO!" screamed Josh as he was being dragged._

_When both Josh and Hannah were gone, Mike climbed out of the water and was about to continue heading out of the mine when he stopped. He heard Sam's voice asking him again if he was sure about Josh. His breathing quickened as he realized with horror that she might have had a point. He had never actually seen Hannah kill Josh. If she recognized him as her brother, maybe she had no intention of killing him. Josh could have still been alive in the mines somewhere just like Jessica was._

_"MIKE!" screamed a voice from behind him._

_It sounded like Josh's voice but it was different somehow. When Mike turned to face the the source of the voice, he saw why. Standing before him was Josh but he looked like a wendigo. Josh pushed Mike down to the ground before he could react._

_"Why didn't you help me? You left me here in the mines with no food but plenty of dead bodies. I was starving. What was I supposed to do? Look at what I've become because of YOU!"_

_Mike crawled away trying to escape from Josh but he was too slow. Josh jumped on top of Mike and pinned him down. With no way to escape, Mike could only watch in horror as Josh raised one of his hands. The claws that were his fingernails were pointing right at Mike's neck. Then Josh brought his hand down with full force to sever Mike's head._

* * *

"NOOOOOO!"

Mike screamed as he rose up into a seated position. He panted heavily as he realized he was not in the mine anymore. It was still dark but a quick glance of his surroundings revealed that he was in his bedroom. His breathing eased as he started to calm down. It had all been a dream. No, it was more like a nightmare. Mike wouldn't have thought much about it except it was a nightmare that he was all too used to having.

It had been almost three weeks since the events of Blackwood Mountain and Mike was still having nightmares about that night. For the most part his attempt to move on with his life had been successful. He was doing well in college, he had a part-time job working for his dad and he had moved into his own apartment. At a glance, it was hard to see that Mike had been through such a traumatic experience. But if a person were to take a closer look, they would see a young man running on little sleep due to constant nightmares. Of the different nightmares Mike had been having, the one he just had was the one that occurred the most.

"Are you okay Mike?" said a voice next to him. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Mike turned to the source of the voice and saw Jessica lying next to him and looking at him with concern. After leaving the police station, Mike and Jessica had been practically inseparable. When Mike got his apartment, he asked Jessica to move in with him. She happily accepted. Later, with Mike's help, she had put together a portfolio and was now pursuing a modeling career. It was difficult in the beginning due to the scars she received on the mountain but they were slowly healing and she was starting to find more work. Like Mike, she had been having nightmares about what happened to her on the mountain but they had become less frequent. Now it was only Mike who was still having them.

"Yeah," Mike replied as he laid back down on the bed, "I'm sorry I woke you."

Jessica moved closer to Mike and put a hand on his chest, "it's okay. I've kept you awake with my own nightmares. Do you want to talk about it?"

"In the morning. You need your sleep before your photoshoot tomorrow."

"Okay. I love you Mike."

"I love you too Jessica."

After a quick goodnight kiss, Jessica rolled over on her other side and went back to sleep. Mike however didn't go back to sleep right away. It was never easy for him to fall asleep again after a nightmare. The best thing for him to do was pick up his tablet that was on the nightstand next to him and watch a video until he fell asleep. He put on some headphones so that the noise wouldn't disturb Jessica and began searching for a video that he wanted to watch. Before he could make a selection, he noticed a news video with a headline that caused him to become wide awake:

FIFTEEN STILL TRAPPED IN BLACKWOOD MOUNTAIN MINES

Mike hadn't really been paying attention to the news reports because he wanted to distance himself from Blackwood Mountain as much as possible. Besides what could he do to stop people from going up there? The police wouldn't listen to his warnings and they would have sent him to a mental institution if he had insisted. He just wanted to live a normal life with Jessica. Yet three weeks later, it was like Blackwood Mountain was calling for him to come back. First the nightmares and now the news article. Even though he knew it would mean no going back, Mike clicked on the news video and watched as a reporter appeared in front of what looked like the entrance to the mines.

"For those of you just tuning in, rescue workers are still trying to dig through the rubble caused by last week's cave-in that has trapped fifteen people in the mines on Blackwood Mountain. The fifteen people consist of several police officers, medical personnel and volunteers. Each of them were part of the search party that was attempting to locate Joshua Washington. Washington has been missing since the incident that occurred here three weeks ago which claimed the lives of four teenagers and injured three others. For a while the trapped search party members were able to communicate with rescue workers from the other side of the rubble. Now we have learned that communication mysteriously ceased after one rescue worker reported hearing screaming and gunfire coming from inside the mine. As of now, there is no news on the status of the trapped search party members. Despite that, workers continue to dig around the clock to clear the rubble. Stayed tuned to this station for further bulletins."

According to the report, everything Mike warned would happen if a search was launched was coming to pass. The rescue workers and the reporters may not know what was going on in those mines but Mike did. The screaming and the gunfire that was heard could only mean that there were indeed still some wendigos in the mine and they were attacking the trapped search party members. Anyone still alive in there was probably now realizing that guns were useless against the wendigos. He didn't want to think about how chaotic it probably was in the mine at that moment.

As Mike put his tablet away and laid back down on the bed, several thoughts went through his head. He wanted to believe that Josh and the fifteen people trapped in the mines were dead by now. After all, neither of them knew how to fight wendigos. But he kept thinking about the nightmare that he just had. He did think that Jessica was dead but she managed to survive. What if Josh was still alive too? Even if he survived the wendigos, being in those mines for three weeks with no food, it was only a matter of time before he might resort to cannibalism and become a wendigo himself just like in Mike's dream. If that happened, and Mike could have done something about it, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. The same could be said about the trapped search party members. Mike was probably one of the few people who knew the mines the best and he could easily find another way inside and lead the survivors out of there. His mind was made up. He had failed to save Matt, Chris, Emily and Ashley. If there was a chance that he could save Josh and any of the search party members, he needed to take it.

Before falling asleep, Mike took one last look at Jessica. She was sleeping so peacefully. He knew that he was going to have to tell her what he had decided and odds were it wasn't going to go well. Still, maybe Jessica would understand why he had to go.

* * *

The next morning, Mike was awoken by the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. He then noticed the empty spot on the bed next to him and realized that Jessica must have woken up earlier and was making breakfast. Mike let out a depressed sigh. The breakfast smelled good. Jessica was making a special meal for them and he was going to have to spoil it by telling her what he had decided during the night.

Slowly he got out of the bed and put on his robe and slippers. He grabbed his tablet before he left the bedroom. He followed the smell to the kitchen and managed to smile when he saw what awaited him. The table was set and Jessica was at the stove flipping some pancakes over on a griddle. Mike moved to sit at the table and caught Jessica's attention. She smiled back at him before returning her focus to the pancakes.

"Good morning," she said, "how are you feeling?"

"Much better once I smelled those pancakes," Mike replied.

"I figured you could use a nice breakfast after a rough night's sleep."

"Thanks Jess."

Soon the pancakes were ready and Jessica served them on the plates.

"Are you ready to talk about the nightmare you had?" she asked as she and Mike took their first few bites of the pancakes.

The smile on Mike's face vanished. It was the moment of truth. The best way he could think to have Jessica understand the reason for his decision was by starting at the beginning. That was going to be tough though because while he told Jessica about the nightmare he'd been having about Josh, he didn't tell her everything that happened in it.

"It was the one I've been having about Josh," he said.

Jessica seemed surprised by Mike's response, "you've been having that one a lot. From what you told me, there wasn't anything you could've done to help him so you shouldn't feel guilty about it. Why would you still be having that nightmare?"

"There's more to the nightmare than I've told you Jess. After I relieve what happened to Josh, I start making my way out of the mine when I suddenly hear Sam's voice and then I see you."

"What? Why would you see me?"

"Because Sam's voice wanted to remind me that I had jumped the gun in assuming you died falling down that elevator shaft and asked me if I was sure I didn't do the same with Josh. Then I relieve the moment with Josh again only this time he doesn't die. Instead he was dragged into the mines kicking and screaming. Then Sam's voice asked me again if I was sure about Josh and I realized at that point that I wasn't. Suddenly Josh appeared as a wendigo and he starts yelling at me, asking why I left him down in the mines to nearly starve to death and turn into a wendigo."

"Mike, what happened down in the mines was beyond your control. You could spend the rest of your life wondering what could have been but it's not going to change what happened to Josh."

"Jess you don't understand. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me that Josh could still be alive. I never saw him die. If he's still alive then he's been down there for three weeks. Hannah managed to last thirty days before she ate Beth's body and turned into a wendigo. There's still a chance that he could be saved."

Jessica dropped her fork when she realized what Mike was implying, "are you saying that you want to go back there? Are you crazy?"

"I have to Jess. That whole night we were up there, all I wanted was to keep my friends safe and get us off the mountain. Instead I made choices that got Matt, Chris, Emily and Ashley killed. In Emily's case, I was the one who pulled the trigger. I failed them Jess but I might still have a chance to help Josh."

Jessica slammed her hand on the table and rose from her chair, "you are not responsible for what happened to them Mike! You don't have to go on some suicide mission to make amends to them! If you're convinced Josh is alive then tell the police. Maybe they can find him and they would have a better chance of surviving then you would."

Mike pulled out his tablet and gently tossed it to Jessica's side of the table, "are you sure about that?"

Slightly frustrated by Mike insisting on continuing the conversation, Jessica snatched up the tablet and angrily tapped a few buttons to turn the tablet on. When the screen turned on, it showed the news video that Mike had watched the previous night. As she watched the video, the frustration on her face gradually turned to shock. She covered her mouth in horror when she heard the reporter talk about the screaming and gunfire that were heard in the mines.

"That's the other reason I need to go Jess," Mike said after the video was over, "those people in the mines could still be alive too. But if it was a wendigo that attacked them, they're not going to last long if they keep trying to kill it with guns. I'm one of the few people that knows how to fight wendigos and I probably know those mines better than most. I don't like the idea either but like it or not, I'm probably the best chance any of those people have of getting out alive."

A tear appeared in Jessica's eyes. She turned away from Mike and leaned on the kitchen counter. As she looked out the nearby window, more tears appeared and she started sniffling. Mike quickly moved to her and put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

"I don't have a choice Jess," he said.

Jessica was silent for second before she sobbed, "I can't go back there Mike."

"What?" Mike asked.

"I can't go back. The truth is I know you're right and I want to help you any way I can but…I just can't go back there."

Mike turned Jessica around and hugged her, "I'm not asking you to. I would never ask you to go back there after what you went through. This is my burden, my responsibility so I will handle this myself."

Jessica nodded, "I still don't like it but I respect your decision."

"Thank you. There is a way you can still help me though. I'm going to put a list together of things I will need before I go, you can help me get them."

"Sounds good but…"

"But what?"

"Even though I can't go with you, I don't like the idea of you going up there alone."

Mike thought about Jessica's last statement. True he did manage to survive being attacked by several wendigos in the sanatorium by himself but Jessica was right. Even the stranger had said that going alone anywhere wendigos were around was suicide. The problem was who would be crazy enough to go with him into what could be considered a suicide mission? Then a name popped into his head.

"I might not have to go alone Jess," he said, "there is one person who has as much reason to go up there as I do, assuming she even gives me a chance to talk to her."


	3. Sanity

 

 

 

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

For the first couple of hours following breakfast, Mike and Jessica went shopping for the supplies Mike was going to need for his trip. It was decided that they would split the errands between them rather than do them all together. They chose to do it that way for two reasons. The first was the obvious reason that it would allow them to cover more ground quickly as they had several stops to make and Jessica needed to get to her photoshoot later in the day. The second reason had to do with why they were making so many stops. The absolute must-have items on Mike's list were a flare gun, several dozen flares for the flare gun, any kind of spray cans filled with flammable liquid and lighters. Since Mike didn't have access to a flamethrower like the one the stranger had, he was going to need items that he could use to make his own flame based weapons. Unfortunately he was going to need a lot of them and all those supplies might raise some eyebrows if he bought them all at one store. By going to multiple stores, he and Jessica could buy what could be considered an acceptable amount of the supplies and add them to the growing stockpile in the trunks of their cars.

To obtain another item for his arsenal, Mike had to stop at his parents' house. When he called his father to request time off from work, he said it was because he was going to be on a hunting trip with some of his friends from school. He did this not just to give his dad a cover story to hide where he was really going but because it gave him a reason for asking to borrow his father's shotgun. A shotgun may not kill a wendigo but it sure would slow it down. Mike knew this first hand from when he used a sawed-off shotgun to defend himself from the wendigos in the sanatorium. With both his parents gone, Mike used the spare key he had to get into the house and took the shotgun along with as many cases of shotgun rounds that he could. He knew he was taking a chance doing so as his father would no doubt notice that he took more than what was needed for hunting but Mike felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

Besides weapons, Mike was also going to need some basic survival supplies like a backpack, some lanterns, a first-aid kit, plenty of drinking water and food. However he wasn't just going to need food for himself. He needed to get some food that he could give to any survivors he found in the mine. They may have only been in the mine for a week but Mike knew that didn't mean it was too early for them to think about resorting to cannibalism and turning into wendigos themselves. Above all it was going to be Josh who would need the food. He had been down there for three weeks and any food Mike could give him was going to be what would ultimately save him.

When Mike and Jessica regrouped at their apartment, they spread out the supplies on their bed and took a final inventory to ensure they had everything. On the bed were four ammo belts filled with shotgun shells and flares, the shotgun Mike got from his parent's place, one backpack filled with food and water and another backpack that contained the lanterns and first-aid kit. The first thing Mike thought when he saw the spread was that it looked like like a cross between a soldier's arsenal and a camper's pack. The second thing Mike thought was "there is no way I'm going to be able to carry all this stuff by myself." He could tell from the look Jessica gave him that she was thinking the same thing. She was about to start picking some supplies Mike may not need but Mike stopped her. While it was true that he might not need everything on the bed, the possibility that he was going to need them was something he couldn't take chances with. His only hope for being able to bring all the supplies was if he could convince the person he thought of at breakfast to come with him.

Thus Mike now found himself driving to Sam's house. As he drove, he had been thinking about what he was going to say to Sam. He didn't know whether Sam was going to be happy that he now believed there was a possibility Josh was still alive or mad at him for taking so long to figure it out. Then again, he was also wondering if she was going to have any kind of reaction at all. He hadn't seen her since their time at the police station but he remembered how emotionless she was…at least until she smiled when she thought about the police launching their search for Josh. What made Mike nervous the most was the possibility of seeing Sam react in a similar way when he told her about what happened during the search. There was a brief moment where he told himself that Sam may not be the best choice to go with him but he shook it off and continued on to Sam's house. Sam was the only one he could turn to for help with this situation. While he made the final turn that took him onto the street Sam's house was on, he silently prayed that Sam's possible love for Josh would be what motivated her to help him.

To Mike's surprise, there was a small moving truck outside of Sam's house. The house was a place for students to live during the school year but the year wasn't over yet. Why would Sam be moving out now? He sat in the car a second longer to see if Sam would come out to give instructions to the movers but she never did. If it wasn't for the fact that Sam's car was in the driveway, Mike might have jumped to the conclusion that he was witnessing a robbery.

The amount of foot traffic moving through the house was going to make talking to Sam more difficult. Not just because he didn't want to risk someone hearing what he was planning but because he might not be able to even approach the house without being noticed. By now most of the people in town had seen Mike's face on the news whenever the story of what happened that night on Blackwood Mountain aired. Any one of the movers might recognize him and want to ask questions about it.

"It doesn't matter," Mike thought, "I need to talk to Sam and I'm not going to let any of these movers get in my way."

Fortunately the mover's were too busy bringing items out of the house to notice Mike allowing him to enter the house without being stopped. However, Mike did stop when he got a good look at the inside of the house. Mike had visited Sam's house several times during the school year and one thing that always stood out was how well kept it was. That was not the case this time. The house was a mess. Some of it was due to the boxes of stuff that were going to be loaded onto the moving truck but not all of it. In the kitchen, the countertops and sinks were cluttered with dirty dishes and opened food packages. The living room had piles of dirty clothes that apparently never made it to the laundry room. If Mike didn't know this was Sam's house, he would have thought he was in a house that belonged to a slob. He began to worry that he might have been right about Sam not getting better since he last saw her.

With no sign of Sam on the lower level, Mike made his way upstairs and headed for Sam's bedroom. The door was slightly cracked open and he could just make out a figure inside the room. He was about to open the door when he realized that walking in unannounced might not be the smartest idea. Instead, he gently tapped on the door and announced himself.

"Sam," he said, "it's Mike. May I come in?"

Initially Mike didn't get any kind of response from inside but then he saw the figure walk towards the door. The door slowly opened the rest of the way. Mike almost didn't recognize the girl that greeted him on the other side. There was no doubt it was Sam but she didn't look at all like her usual self. Her hair was a mess, she was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants that had some food stains on them and she smelled like she hadn't showered for days. Mike was trying not to show his surprise at Sam's appearance but she still picked up on it and slyly smiled.

"You can go ahead and say it Mike," she said, "I'm a pig. You'd be amazed how spending a night in hell can make things like personal hygiene seem trivial. Come on in. I can't wait to hear what brings the class president to my humble home."

If Mike wasn't feeling so nervous he might have chuckled at how Sam mockingly addressed him as the class president. Technically he wasn't the class president anymore since they had graduated high school. Maybe it was the fact he was the last person to hold the office before graduation that made him the unofficial "president for life". He followed Sam into the room and found it to be in a similar state to the rest of the house. Sam took a seat on her bed while Mike cleared some clutter off a chair. As he sat down, Mike noticed that Sam had been starting at him the whole time. She could have just been waiting for him to speak but the stare was making him uneasy especially since she didn't seem to blink once. To escape the uneasiness, he quickly broke the silence with some small talk. It was best to get a sense of Sam's mental state before he brought up the big question.

"I was surprised to see the moving truck when I arrived," he said, "are you taking the rest of the semester off?"

"You could say that," Sam replied, "though I was as surprised as you were when it pulled up. I guess my parents weren't kidding when they said I was going to be leaving here whether I wanted to or not."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well Mike, since we last saw each other, my parents have been a bit concerned about me. Apparently not bothering to go to classes and not taking care of my house was a red flag for them (chuckle). You should have seen the look on my mom's face when she first saw my house in its current state. I told my parents that I was fine but they made me go see a shrink named Dr. Alan Hill. Did you know he was Josh's psychiatrist too?"

"No I didn't. I'm sorry that you had to see a psychiatrist but it sounded like you were depressed. Your parents probably just wanted to help."

The smile on Sam's face grew larger and she leaned forward so that she was right in Mike's face, "oh I promise you that I'm not depressed Mike. In fact, my mother actually saw me have a good laugh a few days ago. We were watching a news report about the rescue efforts on Blackwood Mountain. I think it was because I laughed while we watched it that my mother first decided I needed to see Dr. Hill. I never understood what the problem was. I always thought the point of comedies was to make us laugh at other peoples' misfortune. Long story short, Dr. Hill says that he has some concerns regarding my mental state and wants me to be checked into a hospital for observation."

"So…the moving trucks…they're here to take you to….?"

Suddenly Sam jumped up and was now standing on her bed, "that's right Mike. Tonight…I'm on my way to the nuthouse!"

Sam then proceeded to jump up on the down on the bed while laughing and twirling her finger next to her head like a person would do to silently say someone was crazy. All Mike could do was watch and wonder if he was really looking at the same girl who had saved his life back on the mountain. What really creeped him out was, in a way, she was reminding him of the way Josh acted when Mike took him to the shed. At least she wasn't mumbling random gibberish like Josh was. But how long would that last? Suddenly Sam stopped jumping and laid back down on the bed.

"But enough about me," she said, "you never answered my question. What made you decide to come visit me?"

Mike didn't know if he was desperate or oblivious. Everything he was seeing and hearing was telling him to leave the room right then and not bother talking to Sam anymore. Besides, if her parents were planning to send her to the hospital, how would he be able to explain her going with him to Blackwood Mountain? Still none of it mattered if he couldn't get Sam to agree to come with him. That would have to be the deciding factor. Now that he knew he was going to proceed, he decided to start at the beginning.

"I saw that news report about the trapped rescue workers too," he said, "unlike you I didn't find the situation funny at all. I'm planning to go back to Blackwood Mountain and I'm going to try and save them."

Sam didn't react right away but as she processed what Mike said, she initially looked surprised before she suddenly burst out in laughter.

"YOU?!" she said between laughs. "You want to go back there?! That is rich! Seriously why are you here?"

Mike slammed his hand on the armrest of the chair causing Sam to stop laughing, "I'm dead serious Sam! Those people could still be alive up there and I'm one of the few people who knows how to fight wendigos. Normally I wouldn't even think about going back to that hellhole but I can't just sit around while those people are dying and wonder if I could have done something to help."

"Well that's very heroic of you Mike," Sam said as she returned to a seated position on the bed, "if not completely insane. Maybe I'm not the one who should be going to the nuthouse. Have you told Jess about this crazy plan of yours?"

"I have. She doesn't like it but she understands why I have to do it. We've actually just spent most of the morning getting supplies."

Sam chuckled, "I'm surprised that you managed to convince Jess to go with you."

"She's not, and I'm not asking her to come. After what happened to her down in those mines, I can't make her come with me and go through all that again. Which brings me to the reason I'm here. Jess may not be coming with me, but my chances of surviving would still be a lot better if I didn't go down there alone. I was hoping…"

"WHOA!" Sam interrupted. "You're here to ask ME to go with you?! (Laugh) Come on, Mike. I might have a screw loose but I'm not insane. If you want to go off and die playing a hero, that's your death wish. Besides, you warned the police not to go up there but they didn't listen. It seems to me that they deserve what they're getting because they were too stupid to listen to you."

"If I recall Sam," Mike said tensely, "you were the one who told them they needed to go into the mines to look for Josh. How could they take my warnings seriously when you were telling them to do the exact opposite of what I was?"

"Don't bother playing the guilt card Mike. In case you haven't already figured it out from looking around my house, I don't care about anyone or anything anymore. One of the things Dr. Hill said is that I might have been so traumatized by the deaths of my friends that I've lost any feeling of empathy. The old Sam might have cared about the well being of others but not the new Sam. Now I think it's time for you to go. There is nothing you can say that is going to make me care about any of those people in the mine nor will anything make me want to go with you to help them."

It was getting harder for Mike to contain his anger. Whether Sam was mentally unstable or not, he couldn't believe she was acting so indifferent to the fate of the rescue workers. He would be okay if she didn't want to help because she was too scared to go back to the mines. That was why Jessica didn't want to come. To not want to go because she didn't care, that was just heartless. Realizing that guilt wasn't going to work, Mike knew he had only one card left to play. Sam may not have cared about the well-being of the trapped rescue workers because she didn't know any of them but her feelings for Josh should motivate her to help regardless of her supposed lack of empathy. Of course that all depended on if she didn't initially get angry at Mike for taking so long to accept the possibility that Josh was still alive. Mike took one deep breath to calm his initial anger at Sam's lack of caring for the rescue workers and dropped the final bombshell.

"How about Josh?" he asked. "Would you want to come with me to help him?"

Josh's name got a reaction from Sam. It was subtle, but Mike noticed her shoulders tense up. Feeling he now had her full attention, he continued.

"Since that night on the mountain, I've been having nightmares about what happened. The one I've been having the most had me reliving what happened to Josh. It would always end with me watching him die. Then something changed the last couple of nights. After watching him die, I recall what you said at the police station about me jumping the gun in assuming Jess died. Then I relive the moment with Josh again only this time instead of dying he gets dragged deeper into the mine kicking and screaming. Sam, I now believe that Josh might still be alive. Hannah managed to survive for thirty days before she became a wendigo. When I go up there to rescue the workers, there is a chance that I might be able to find Josh before he suffers a similar fate."

For a minute, Mike thought he saw a tear forming in Sam's eye. It was like he had given her the hope she needed to restore her belief that the guy she loved may still be alive. Maybe she wasn't completely emotionless after all. Unfortunately, just as suddenly as the tear appeared, it vanished and Sam's face became emotionless again.

"Now Mike?" she said. "Now, after three weeks, you finally decide that Josh may be alive? Why not last week, or the week before that? Why not right after I asked you at the police station if you were sure Josh was dead?"

Mike was trying not to let Sam's questions get to him but he couldn't deny that she had a point. Somewhere in his gut he always had a feeling Josh could have still been alive. Yet it took seeing the news report about the trapped rescue workers before he acknowledged it. He had already been having the nightmare about Josh before he saw the report yet even that didn't change his mind. Realizing this wasn't the time to feel guilty for acting so late, Mike shook the thought out of his head.

"I don't know Sam," he finally replied to her questions, "if anything I should have wanted to jump at the chance to save Josh. We've already lost four of our friends and nearly lost Jess so why I didn't let myself accept that Josh could still be alive earlier is beyond me. What I do know is that I believe it now and I am going to go up there to save him and the rescue workers."

Suddenly the same creepy smile Mike saw on Sam's face at the police station appeared again as she apparently had a realization, "that's not it. You only decided to save Josh now because those rescue workers are in danger too."

"What?" Mike said surprised.

"So it wasn't worth risking your life to just save Josh, Mike? You had to wait until more people were in danger before you decided to play the hero."

"N..No Sam that's not it…"

"(Laugh) Some hero you are Mike. I'll bet that's why you didn't put more effort into finding Jess either. You didn't want to risk your life if all you were going to save was just one person. I can't wait to hear what Jess has to say when I tell her about this."

"ENOUGH!" Mike shouted.

The sudden outburst surprised Mike. He began to worry that some of the movers might have heard him and were going to come investigate the noise. When no one came, he tried to calm himself down. He knew the conversation with Sam was going to be difficult but why was he letting her get inside his head? He was supposed to be trying to convince her to help him but instead Sam was making him feel more guilty than he already was. He took a moment to calm himself so he could talk without shouting. Even though he didn't have any cards left to play, he decided to make one more sincere plea before giving up.

"Please Sam," he said, "I just want to know if you'll help me save them. I'm going back to Blackwood Mountain with or without you but I'd would prefer it if you did come. You're the only other person that knows how to handle wendigos and….and you're the only one I can trust to watch my back. It's up to you. If you don't want to come, I'll walk out that door and I will never bother you again. If you do, we'll get in my car, head back to my place to get our supplies and leave for Blackwood Mountain from there."

Mike tried to get a read on Sam's thoughts but to no avail. Trying to read someone who seemed to show nothing but a stoic expression was impossible. She was giving no indication on how Mike's plea affected her…or even if it affected her at all. Then, she rose up from the bed and pointed towards the door.

"Wait outside," she said.

At first Mike thought Sam had told him to leave but then realized she only asked him to wait outside. He didn't understand why but felt it was best to do as she said. The door closed behind him and soon the sound of Sam rummaging through stuff came from the other side. Mike wasn't sure if he should be excited or nervous about the sound since he didn't know what Sam was looking for. He listened to the sound of Sam rummaging for about a minute when the room became quiet again. It was a few more seconds before the door opened again. Mike did a double take when he saw what Sam looked like. She wasn't looking like a slob anymore. Instead she was wearing the same red hoodie and yoga pants she wore that night on Blackwood Mountain and carrying a backpack.

"I have to say Mike," she said, "you're not doing much to disprove my theory that you might be crazier than I am. After what you saw and heard me say today, you should have gone running for the hills. It kind of surprised me that you would still trust me to help you. Just so you know however, I'm not coming with you because I care about those rescue workers. I'm only coming because I'm not really interested in going to the nuthouse. If we manage to save Josh in the process, that will be a nice bonus."

A surprised Mike followed Sam down the stairs and out of the house. It may not have been how he wanted to get Sam to come with him, but he wasn't going to be picky. What mattered was that he wouldn't be going to Blackwood Mountain alone now. Once he and Sam were in his car, it then dawned on him that he was really going to do it. He was going back to the hell that he thought he had left behind for good. To make it slightly more nerve-racking, his only source of help was from a friend that could potentially snap at any time. "What could possibly go wrong?" he sarcastically thought as he and Sam pulled out onto the street and headed for his apartment.


	4. Journey

 

 

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

Jessica was waiting for Mike and Sam when they arrived at the apartment. She had the backpacks in hand ready to load them into the car. Mike figured the weapons were still in the house. He and Jessica didn't have a lot of neighbors but it was better to be safe than sorry and keep the weapons exposure to a minimum. He also noticed that Jessica had one extra bag that he didn't recall packing. It then dawned on him what was in the bag and he smiled. Jessica had packed him an overnight bag with a change of clothes, soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrush. All day he had been focused on packing his supplies for Blackwood Mountain that he didn't even think about packing the basic items. Fortunately, Jessica did.

"What did I do to deserve such an amazing girl?" Mike thought to himself.

It was at that point that he noticed that Sam was looking at him funny. Looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror, he realized why. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts about Jessica that he was practically grinning like an idiot. He quickly returned his focus to backing the car into the driveway. When Mike and Sam got out of the car, Jessica was about to give Sam a hug when she noticed Mike shaking his head. Given Sam's mental state, an unexpected hug might set her off. So Jessica instead offered her hand which Sam reluctantly shook. It was then that Jessica noticed Sam's outfit.

"Is that all you're wearing to the mountain Sam?" she asked. "It's still pretty cold up there."

"Really?" Sam said pretending to sound surprised. "Why didn't I think of…oh that's right. All my stuff is in boxes getting ready to go to the nuthouse."

"What?"

"Oh, do I need to repeat myself Miss Supermodel? I was on my way to the nuthouse when Mike came and got me. Apparently I'm…"

"Sam," Mike interrupted, "would you load the bags into the trunk please? Jess and I will get the rest of the stuff and we'll see if we have a spare coat that we can loan you."

Sam looked at Mike like he had asked a dumb question, "when did I become the bag lady Mike? How about you take care of the bags and I will get my own damn coat."

Normally Mike would have done what Sam suggested to avoid an argument. In this case however, he couldn't. Letting Sam near a firearm didn't seem like the best idea at that point. He knew he would have to trust her with a weapon once they got to the mountain but first they needed to get there. Until then, he would be the only one allowed to handle them.

"Please Sam," he said, "if you want to go inside for a bit when we're done, that's fine but let's just get the car loaded first."

Sam rolled her eyes but she did what Mike asked. Mike and Jessica meanwhile went into the house to get the weapons and a coat for Sam. The weapons were laid out on the table in the kitchen. While Mike went to get them, Jessica went to the closet where they kept their coats. She managed to find a jacket similar to the one she wore on the mountain only this one was colored red. Mike joined her after grabbing the weapons and reached into the closet to grab his coat. It was the same tattered olive-green army jacket that he acquired from the sanatorium. As he put the coat on, he noticed Jessica had a concerned look on her face.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I was about to ask the same thing about Sam," Jessica replied, "I realize I'm not one of Sam's favorite people. After all, I was the one who came up with the idea for the prank we pulled on Hannah last year. The thing is Sam has never said anything like that to me before. Plus she snapped at you for making a simple request. She's hardly snapped at anyone the entire time I've known her. What's going on with her? "

Mike sighed, "something's happened to Sam since that night. You should have seen her place Jess. It was a mess. She also told me that her parents made her go see a psychiatrist and he recommended that she should be checked into a hospital for observation. Long story short, he thinks that Sam was so traumatized that she can't feel any emotions anymore. From what I saw when I picked her up, I think he was right to be concerned."

"And yet you’re still planning to take her with you?" Jessica said with shock in her voice.

"Don't you start Jess. I already went through this with Sam. The important thing is that she is willing to help. It may not be for the right reasons and her mental state may be in question but she's the only one who can help me with this so I'm not going to be picky."

Mike made a move to head for the door but Jessica grabbed his arm to stop him, "Mike, what you're doing is going to be dangerous enough without having a mentally unstable girl with you. You obviously kept her outside because you didn't want her handling the weapons. Why are you bringing her along if you don't even trust her?"

"I do trust her. Regardless of what may be happening with her now, she saved my life on the mountain and for a brief moment at her house I saw a bit of the old Sam try to emerge. I'm not saying this might somehow make her better. The truth is I'm well aware that this could make her worse. I'm hoping though that if we find Josh alive up there, her love for him might snap her out of this."

The tears appearing in Jessica's eyes told Mike that she still wasn't convinced. Mike used his free hand to lift her chin up and locked eyes with her.

"We'll be fine Jess. The only people we need to worry about are Josh and the rescue workers. With Sam's help, reluctant as it may be, I will have a better chance of getting us all out of those mines alive."

That time Mike's words helped Jessica muster a small smile. She brought Mike's face closer and the two shared a kiss. The kiss would have lasted longer but the mood was interrupted when a car horn was heard outside followed by Sam calling out for Mike asking if he was coming out soon. The kiss was broken and Mike gave Jessica one final hug before heading for the door.

"Be safe," Jessica called out, "I'll be here waiting for you to come home."

Mike turned to face Jessica and smiled. With his army jacket on, he felt like a soldier saying good-bye to their loved one before leaving for war. Except he knew this wasn't a war. He was going to be trying to rescue people from what he considered to be hell itself. Still he had to keep his brave face on for Jessica.

"I'll be home soon," he said, "I love you, Jess."

"I love you too, Mike"

With that final goodbye said, Mike closed the door and joined Sam at the car. Silently Mike was wishing that he hadn't told Jessica he would be home soon. It was like he was promising her he would come back even though he knew that the odds were stacked highly against that happening. He shook his head. He was thinking negatively again. If he wanted to have any chance of saving Josh and the rescue workers, he needed to believe that he would.

"I will do it," he thought to himself, "I will save them, I will come back to Jess and we will finally be able to put Blackwood Mountain behind us once and for all."

Mike's thoughts were interrupted when Sam spoke, "you seriously hung onto that ugly coat?"

"What?" Mike replied as he loaded the weapons into the trunk. "I like it. It makes me look like an action hero. Besides, it's my good luck charm."

"Whatever you say Rambo," Sam chuckled as she took the red coat from Mike and put it on, "good thing Jess and I are about the same size. So what now fearless leader?"

"Now we head to Blackwood Mountain. I'll tell you the plan on the way."

"Oh you have a plan?" Sam said while she and Mike got in his car, "I'm sure it will work great…until we get there and realize that we're screwed."

Mike sighed. This was going to be a long trip. He started up the car and pulled out of the driveway. Their destination: Blackwood Mountain.

* * *

Silence, awkward silence. That was the only sound that came from inside the car for the majority of Mike and Sam's trip. Mike couldn't remember any car trip he had been on that even came close to the level of quiet their trip was at. In previous car trips, he at least had the radio to keep him entertained. The one time he tried to turn it on this trip was stopped when Sam slapped him on the hand. That moment also ruled out the possibility for small talk. If Mike got that kind of a reaction from Sam just for trying to turn on the radio, he didn't want to know what kind he would get if he tried to talk to her. Just like when he talked to Sam at the police station, he felt like he was navigating a minefield only this time the mines were everywhere and a step in any direction might cause an explosion. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he nearly missed the exit he was looking for. Apparently confused by Mike's choice to exit where he did, Sam finally broke the silence.

"This isn't the way to the mountain," she said, "why are you exiting here?"

Relieved to now have a reason to talk to Sam, Mike explained that they were exiting to spend the night at a cheap motel close to the mountain and then they would make the rest of the trip in the morning. Sam was surprised that Mike wasn't having them go straight to the mountain but Mike said it was the right thing to do. Between his lack of sleep the previous night and the fact he had been up all day preparing for the trip, he needed to get a good night's sleep before their mission could begin. The last thing he wanted was to get himself killed because he slipped up due to fatigue. Waiting until morning to head to the mountain gave them one other advantage. According to the stranger's journal, wendigos only hunted at night. They may still run into one during the day but at least the wendigos wouldn't be actively looking for them.

Since the silence was already broken, Mike decided to use the opportunity to explain the plan for when they got to the mountain in the morning. Upon arrival, they would head for the sanatorium. With the rescue parties trying to get in through the main mine entrance and continuing to search for Josh around the Washington estate, the sanatorium entrance to the mines was their best bet for getting in unnoticed. Even though Mike had to set it on fire to flee some wendigos, he felt they should still be able to enter it and find the entrance to the mines Mike used. They would then make their way to the wendigos' lair. They would still search for survivors on the way but the lair was where the wendigos would take anyone they managed to catch. When Mike had finished going over the plan, they pulled into the motel parking lot.

"Wow," Sam said when she got out of the car and got a good look at the motel, "you weren't kidding about looking for someplace cheap. This looks like the kind of place only a criminal would stay at."

"What did you expect?" Mike said as he grabbed his and Sam's overnight bags from the trunk, "after all the money I spent on the supplies, I didn't have a lot left over for sleeping accommodations. I couldn't even afford to get us separate rooms."

The last comment caused Sam to raise an eyebrow at Mike, "so you and I will be sharing a room? Okay but I should probably let you know that I like to cuddle."

"SAM!" Mike scolded as he slammed the trunk shut.

Again Mike found himself surprised by his sudden outburst. To his relief, no one inside the motel appeared to have heard him. He took some quick breaths to calm down. Why was Sam insisting on testing his patience?

"I asked for the motel to have a roll away bed put in the room," he said sternly, "you can sleep on the double bed while I take the roll away. No one is sharing a bed with anyone, am I clear?"

Sam let out a surprised whistle before giving Mike a mock salute, "yes sir. Wow you can't take a joke can you, Mike?"

"Sorry Sam but I find it kind of hard to be in a joking mood when I'm busy thinking about what we're doing tomorrow."

After checking in, Mike and Sam entered their room. It wasn't any better looking than the motel itself but as long as it had beds and a working bathroom, that was all they were going to need. They then took turns using the bathroom to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth. Sam even took the time to shower, much to Mike's relief as Sam's days without showering made her stink up the car their entire trip. With nothing more to do until morning, Mike and Sam climbed into their respected beds. Mike was about to turn off the light when he noticed Sam giving him the creepy smile again and patting the empty half of her bed.

"Feel free to come over here if you have any trouble sleeping on that bed," she said teasingly, "this bed is really comfortable."

Mike could not turn off the light and hide under his covers quick enough. He could hear Sam giggling as she laid down to sleep. A shiver went up Mike's spine as he heard Sam's teasing words in his head again. What happened to you Sam, he thought to himself as a tear appeared in his eye. Four of his friends were dead and one of them could be near death at that very moment but the thing that was now scaring Mike the most was that he could lose Sam even if she did survive their mission. He began thinking back to the considerate, gentle girl Sam was before the tragedy and wondered if he would ever see that girl again.

Before going to sleep, Mike pulled out his phone. He searched through the photos on it until he found the one he was looking for. It was the photo he took with Jessica on the mountain. If it hadn't been for the fact that Jessica saved the photo onto a cloud that Mike had access to, they would have lost the photo when Jessica lost her phone that night. The photo was Mike's favorite of the two of them. Even though things went to hell shortly after it was taken, he loved it because it showed them happy and in love.

"Good night Jess," he said quietly, "I'll be home soon."

* * *

Mike woke up after having a much better night's sleep than he had the previous night. Silently he hoped it wouldn't be the last time he did. It took a little effort waking up Sam but the two were soon checked out of the motel and traveling the final leg of their trip to Blackwood Mountain. They had to forgo taking the shuttle that Sam took the previous trip due to the difficulties they would have had bringing the shotgun on board. So they took the car all the way to the shuttle drop off area. Fortunately they weren't the only ones that took their car to that point as several of the rescue workers' cars were parked around the area. At least no one would notice an additional car had joined the group for awhile. The first thing they did when they got out of the car was unpack their supplies. Sam constantly tried to grab one of the weapons but Mike was able to snatch them before she could.

"Really Mike?" Sam asked. "We're going to fight monsters and you want me to go in unable to defend myself?"

"We're likely not going to run into anything until we get to the sanatorium," Mike replied, "until we get there, I will hang onto the weapons. I will also take the backpack with the food and water. You can take the backpack that has the lanterns and first-aid kit."

Sam wasn't buying the reason for why Mike wouldn't let her have a weapon but held up her hands in surrender and took the backpack Mike asked her to take. Mike meanwhile put on the two ammo belts so that they formed an "X" on his body, put on the backpack with the food and water, tucked the flare gun into his pants and held onto the shotgun. If the army jacket didn't already make him look like an action hero, he did now with all the supplies.

Needing nothing else from the car, Mike and Sam proceeded to the cable car station and rode the car up to the mountain. When they got off the cable car, Mike stopped for a minute as he mentally relieved the snowball fight he had with Jessica in that very spot their last time on the mountain. Of course it was more of a one sided snowball fight as it saw him getting hit by Jessica several times while he failed to hit her once. Still it had a great ending as he managed to pin her to the ground and they shared a kiss.

"How could a night that started off so wonderful go so horribly wrong?" Mike thought.

"Uh…Earth to Mike," Sam said snapping Mike back to the present, "we're wasting the daylight you wanted us to have. Let's go."

The remaining distance to the sanatorium had to be covered on foot. It was going to be a long trip already but trying to avoid the search parties was going to make it longer. Mike and Sam had several close calls along the way but were always able to hide behind the available cover and avoid being seen. During one of those close calls, Mike was even able to overhear a conversation between two volunteers discussing the trapped rescue workers in the mine…and Josh.

"Why are we still looking for the Washington kid?" the first volunteer said. "If he was alive up here three weeks ago, there's no way he'd be alive now. We should be back at the mine entrance helping the others with the digging."

"You do realize they're probably dead as well," the other volunteer replied. "they've been down there long enough that they probably died of dehydration. Besides, we've had people digging all week and we're still not making any progress. The best thing for us to do is divide and conquer. The Washington's were never able to give their daughters a proper burial so we need to try and give them the chance to do it for their son."

"Pfft yeah right. You heard the same stories I did. The Washington kid brought nothing but stress to his family because of his mental problems. Then he went and invited his friends up here on the anniversary of his sisters' death of all days to subject them to a psychological prank. He probably snapped and decided to try and kill them instead. The way I see it, he killed those kids and now no one, not even his parents will give a rat's ass about what happened to him up here."

It might have been Mike's imagination but he could have sworn that he saw anger on Sam's face when she heard the last comment by the volunteers. He almost dreaded thinking about what she would have done if he had let her have a weapon. There was something else about the volunteers' comments that bothered him. They said they had been digging all week but had not been making progress. All that digging should have cleared the entrance by now so why hadn't it? Either the cave-in was worse than Mike thought…or something was hindering their progress. Was it possible the wendigos were smart enough to find ways to do that. He wasn't able to think about the matter further as the two volunteers had gone. With the path now clear, he and Sam continued on their way. There were a few more close calls but eventually they reached the sanatorium and Mike was surprised by what they found.

"It's….it's still standing," Mike said.

The sanatorium looked almost exactly like it did during Mike's last trip through it, even with the additional fire damage. Mike guessed that it was because the building was already in rough shape and couldn't get much worse short of it crumbling down. With his knowledge of the building's layout, they would be able to find the entrance to the mine in no time. They even had the added advantage of daylight to help light up the interior of the sanatorium. This meant they could save their lanterns until they entered the mine itself.

"You know Mike," said Sam, "there’s an expression that says appearances can be deceiving. Just because this place looks sturdy on the outside doesn't mean it's sturdy on the inside."

Mike nodded as he reached into his coat pocket, "I know Sam. Just stay close to me and I'll get us through. Especially because I still have this."

Mike removed his hand from his pocket which now held a card with several holes punched into it.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"It's an ID card that will allow us to take a quicker path through some locked doors. I didn't even realize I still had it until I found it in my laundry one day. Just…don't ask me where I originally found this card."

Sam was about to disregard Mike's request but he picked up on it and gave her a mean look to reinforce his point. She once again held up her hands in surrender and turned to walk into the sanatorium. Before she could, Mike told her to wait. When she turned to see what was wrong, she was surprised to see Mike was taking off the ammo belt with the flares and pulling out the flare gun. He then held them out for Sam to take.

"I told you that I would give you a weapon once we got to the sanatorium," he said, "we're here."

Sam stared at Mike for a moment trying to see if he was tricking her. When he still had the weapons held out, she carefully took them. She then put on the ammo belt and loaded the flare gun with one of the flares and tucked it in her pants.

"Remember that you only get one shot before you have to reload," Mike continued, "the smart thing to do when we run into a wendigo is to let me stun it with the shotgun and then you finish it off with the flare gun."

"Great plan Mike except for one thing," said Sam, "the flamethrower guy's journal said that you should try NOT to kill wendigos. Something about how killing them causes the wendigo spirit to be released into the air."

"Trust me Sam, I understand the reasoning behind that warning but we're trying to rescue sixteen people and it will be a lot easier the fewer wendigos there are. As for the wendigo spirits, they're only a problem if there is someone on this mountain for it to possess. Once we get everyone off the mountain, we will ensure no one ever comes back here and then there will be no one for the wendigo spirit to possess. No matter what happens today, no one will ever fall prey to the curse of the wendigo again."

Sam chuckled and began slow clapping, "wonderful speech Mike. You really know how to motivate the troops before a suicide mission."

Mike rolled his eyes and brought up his shotgun as he proceeded to enter the sanatorium with Sam following right behind him.


	5. Wendigo

Even with the sunlight shining through the various cracks and windows on the sanatorium's walls, the lobby still looked like the creepy, disaster area Mike was in just three weeks ago. It was a short distance from the main entrance to the door that led to the chapel but it still took a while as Mike was taking in all the familiar sights. Considering everything that happened to him the last time he was in the sanitarium, he should have been unable to force himself back inside. Fortunately there were two things that were different from last time that helped keep him relatively calm. The first was that he wasn't walking in unarmed and wouldn't need to find a weapon. The second was that he wasn't alone.

It was at that moment Mike realized that Sam had managed to get ahead of him and was at the chapel door. Despite it being Sam's first time inside the sanitarium, she didn't seem the least bit amazed or creeped out by the place. Maybe it was because compared to learning the existence of wendigos, a condemned sanitarium didn't seem as scary anymore. On the other hand it could have just been another symptom of Sam's current mental state. Deciding not to dwell on the matter further, Mike joined Sam at the door and used the keycard to unlock it.

"Do you think the place Dr. Hill was going to send me to would have been like this?" Sam said as Mike opened the door.

The tone of Sam's question didn't indicate any fear or humor. In fact there didn't seem to be any emotion in the question at all. Mike turned to face Sam so he could try to get a read from her expression but found it once again to be impossible. She was just staring blankly at the lobby.

"I doubt it," Mike replied, "most of the treatments they gave patients here were a bit primitive by today's standards. Besides, most institutions don't look like they were torn apart by monsters."

"It must have been like a war zone here. Too bad security cameras weren't around back then. It might have been interesting to watch."

Mike had no idea how to respond to Sam's comment. He was however able to get a better picture of what made Sam's mother concerned enough to make Sam get psychological help. If Sam was acting like this watching the news reports about the trapped rescue workers, her mother's concerns were well founded. Now he was experiencing a similar feeling of concern for her as she took point going into the chapel a.k.a. the stranger's home. Of course the room didn't look much like a home now as most of the furniture had been destroyed by the fire. Even before the fire it was hard for Mike to believe that anyone, let alone the stranger could call this place home. Mike thought back to when he followed the stranger into this room when he initially thought the stranger was the one who abducted Jessica. The stuff Mike found that time made him think that the stranger was a psychopath. When he turned out to be the guy whose information helped him and Sam survive that night, the false accusation became another thing Mike felt guilty about from that night.

Realizing he was letting his guilt surface again, Mike shook the thought out of his head and returned his focus to scanning the chapel. He did a quick mental recap to help remember where each of the doorways led in order to find the one that would take them to the mine access. Staring with the right wall, there wasn't much in terms of doors but he did remember how the little rooms were where he found his jacket, the guns he used throughout the rest of that night, the stranger's bulletin board where he kept records of wendigo sightings and missing persons reports from the mountain and the door that helped him get back to the Washington Estate.

The left wall had two possible paths. One would take them outside to a makeshift graveyard that the owner of the institution made after the rest of the staff were killed by the wendigos. Mike remembered how creeped out he was when he first found it and noticed that each grave had the same date of death on it. After what he went through the last time he was on Blackwood Mountain, he could see how it was possible for so many people to die in one day. It was probably best he didn't let Sam see the graveyard or else he might hear her make another bad comment. That left only one door and Mike knew it was the one they were looking for. He took a step to point out the door to Sam when he nearly tripped on something. Looking down to investigate, he froze.

Meanwhile Sam was scanning the room with the flare gun raised and ready to shoot whatever might jump out from hiding. When she didn't hear Mike say anything about where to go next, she turned around to see him looking at something on the floor. At first glance, she didn't see anything but then she followed Mike's eye line to see he was looking at a bone. The bone was pretty burnt but Sam could just make out the small pieces of meat that were still on the bone. There were also some teeth marks all over it.

"Hungry Mike?" Sam said snapping Mike out of his current thought. "You do know that there is food that hasn't been eaten yet in your backpack right?"

"Very funny," Mike replied sarcastically, "I wasn't thinking about eating it. I actually remember this bone from the first time I came through here. It belonged to Wolfie."

Now Sam was looking at Mike like he had lost it, "First of all, it's a bone Mike. It looks like almost every other bone. Secondly, who the heck is Wolfie?"

"The flamethrower guy had a pair of wolves as guard dogs. One of them was in here when I passed through and looked like he was ready to jump me. I kept my cool and was able to convince him I wasn't a threat. This was the bone I used to earn his trust. We became friends that night."

Sam chuckled, "Michael Munroe, wolf whisperer. So what happened to him?"

Mike frowned, "I don't know. During my second trip through here, he came with me when I was trying to get to the mines. We were attacked by some wendigos but we managed to escape. I then had to drop down a deep hole in the floor to get where I needed to go. Wolfie was too afraid to jump so I had to go on without him. I want to believe he's still alive but…he could have easily been killed in the fire."

As the thought of Wolfie's possible fate entered Mike's mind, a tear appeared in his eye. Even though he had only known Wolfie for that one day, Wolfie did help keep him safe as he navigated the sanitarium. If Wolfie had died in the fire that Mike had caused, he would be yet another friend whose death Mike was partially responsible for. Sam on the other hand wasn't showing any emotional response to Mike's story. In fact she looked like she was about to say something insensitive again. Maybe even something along the lines about what Mike was thinking about. Fortunately Mike picked up on it and interrupted her.

"Ok, we need to go through the psychiatric wing to get to the entrance to the mine. Sadly that wing is also where the flamethrower guy kept the wendigos he captured. If any wendigos survived the fire, that's where we'll likely run into some."

"In that case, lead the way fearless leader."

With Sam following Mike's lead, the duo exited the chapel and proceeded to the psychiatric wing. They first had to get through some security doors that were designed to only open one at a time. Then they walked down some stairs and past some holding cells. They stopped briefly when they came across the remains of the other wolf outside one of the cells. Mike knew it was there from his previous trip but he didn't expect to be disgusted by it again. Seeing how the wolf had decayed over the last three weeks proved him wrong. As for Sam, she looked at the wolf with intrigue.

"Wolfie's brother?" she said.

Mike didn't dignify the question with an answer and kept walking past some more holding cells. Sam followed close behind him but would occasionally lag behind to look inside the cells they passed. Specifically she was looking at the ones that looked like they were torn apart by a wild animal. Once or twice, Mike had to stop and get Sam moving again. He had already seen the cells his last visit and didn't need to see them again. They then came to a spot where they had to choose to go either left or right. Sam wanted to go left and see what was down there but Mike knew the correct path was the one on the right. He also didn't want to give Sam a chance to see what actually was down the left path.

During his previous trip through the sanatorium, Mike had gone down the left path first and it was there he found the final clues that confirmed what had happened there back in 1952. The first thing he found was a film projector that surprisingly still worked and contained a film showing one of the patients being tended by a nurse. When the nurse left the room briefly, the patient managed to break free of his restraints and literally climbed the wall and waited for the nurse to return before striking. The film didn't show what happened to the nurse but Mike could guess based on what he did see. There was no way Mike was going to let Sam see that film given her comment about how interesting it would be to see video of what happened. The second thing Mike found was a folder containing the medical file on a miner named Billy Bates who was being treated in the sanatorium. In gruesome detail, it described and showed his gradual transformation into a wendigo. Finally, in a walled off room near where Mike found the folder, he found the body of the sanatorium's owner clutching a suicide note. Just like when they were walking past the cells, Mike didn't need to see any of those things again. It took more persuasion but he managed to convince Sam to follow him down the right path.

Now Mike and Sam were reaching the part of the facility that Mike had mentioned in the chapel. With weapons raised, they were scanning every nook and cranny they came across as they made their way forward. Given how fast wendigos were, the tight quarters Mike and Sam were in would make it almost impossible to survive a sudden wendigo attack unless they could see it coming in advance. Another thing going against them was that the fire had likely destroyed all flammable barrels so they couldn't use them as explosives. The strategy Mike had worked out with Sam was currently their only plan of attack.

"HELP!"

Mike and Sam froze when a woman's scream was heard coming from behind them.

"SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!"

The scream was getting louder as the source seemed to be closing in on Mike and Sam's position. Mike looked towards Sam using his peripheral vision so that his head wouldn't move. Sam was doing the same. Without using any words, they both communicated to each other that neither of them were buying that the voice was one of the rescue workers they were looking for. If the scream had been coming from in front of them, it could have been a possibility but it wasn't. There was no way Mike and Sam could have missed a woman in distress while they were moving through the sanitarium. A wendigo however…

RUN!

Not wanting to be there when the wendigo caught up with them, Mike and Sam ran as fast as they could. The exit was not much farther and they had a chance of escaping if they could get there before the wendigo reached them.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

The wendigo apparently had realized that its vocal lure wasn't working and was now emitting it's natural scream. That scream had been haunting Mike's nightmare several times the last three weeks so hearing it for real again sent a chill up his spine. He quickly shook it off and was now in a full sprint with Sam.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Mike and Sam were barely able to stop themselves from walking into the arms of a wendigo that had appeared in front of them. If it hadn't been for the fact that the cell door it was behind was locked tight, the wendigo would have taken them down. Quickly scanning their surroundings, Mike realized that he and Sam had entered the room with the holding cells where the stranger had kept the wendigos he captured. Mike couldn't believe that this particular wendigo had survived the fire. The wendigo continued to reach towards them. To their horror, its reach seemed to be extending. It couldn't have been because its arm was stretching. It was then they noticed that the cell door was coming loose at the top and was slowly falling forward.

"MOVE SAM!"

The only way out was past the cells and Mike and Sam needed to keep the wendigos behind them if they were going to get there. They only just managed to get away from the door before it completely fell over setting the wendigo free. Now with at least two wendigos after them, the situation was getting desperate for Mike and Sam. Sam even tried to turn around and fire her flare gun but Mike told her not too. Even if she managed to hit one of them, she wouldn't be able to reload her gun as easily while running and the remaining wendigo would likely be on them before she could. That was why he hadn't already tried to stun them with his shotgun.

Suddenly Mike realized he and Sam were running through a hallway where the walls and ceiling were a cage. He recognized it as the hallway where he killed his first two wendigos by rolling an explosive barrel towards them and used his shotgun to blow it up. While it was bad enough he didn't have a barrel this time, Mike realized there was another problem. The door at the end of the hallway was likely still bolted on the opposite side from his last trip. With the wendigos still behind them they couldn't turn around to find another way. Mike's only choice was to blow the lock but he needed time to do it. Waiting until they got to the door, Mike whipped out his shotgun and waited for the wendigos to get closer.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked as she readied the flare gun.

"The doors bolted shut," Mike said quickly, "I can probably blow it open but we need to stop these wendigos so that I'll have enough time."

Sam nodded that she understood and turned her attention back towards the coming wendigos. The duo's minds were racing and their blood was pumping fast but everything else around them seemed to slow down as they waited for the wendigos to appear. They may have had a head start but wendigos could cover ground fast so it shouldn't have taken much longer. After what felt like several minutes, they saw them….or rather they saw one of them. The only wendigo to appear was the one that had jumped out of the holding cell. There was no sign of the one that was originally chasing them. Mike wasn't going to complain though as it meant he and Sam would be able to take this one down easier. He waited until the wendigo got close and leaped off the walls right towards them.

BANG!

The practically point blank shot blew the wendigo right back where it came from and left it stunned on the floor. It tried to get back up but it never had a chance. Sam had followed up Mike's hit with a shot from the flare gun. The flare flew right towards the wendigo and struck it in the chest. The wendigo screamed as the flames from the flare spread and consumed it. Normally a creature of precise speed and agility, it was an unusual sight for Mike and Sam to see the wendigo stumbling around in pain. Finally the fire had done enough damage that wendigo succumbed to its injuries and fell down dead.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

They knew it was coming but Mike and Sam were still somewhat startled when the wendigo's spirit appeared as a flaming head. It let out one final piercing scream as it flew around the room and towards the duo. Just like the previous times they had killed a wendigo however, the spirit vanished into thin air before it reached them. Mike and Sam stayed frozen where they were. They were panting heavily as they waited for the other wendigo to come. To their surprise, it never did. They shared a confused look as they wondered how they could have lost it. Wendigos never seemed like creatures that would give up on a hunt.

"I think you should probably get to work on that door Mike," Sam said, "it seems a bit counterproductive for us to wait here for something that may never come."

"Got it." Mike replied and aimed his shotgun at the approximate spot on the door where the lock was located.

He turned his head away to shield himself from shrapnel and fired. The shot didn't completely damage the lock but it did just enough that it only took one last kick from Mike to open the door. The duo then ran through the door and continued on their journey to the mine entrance. As long as they didn't run into anymore wendigos, they would get there in no time.

"Well that was quite a workout wasn't it?" Sam said with a chuckle.

"Are you joking again Sam?" Mike asked with annoyance in his voice.

"Just trying to lighten the mood Mike. You know you really should learn to laugh after having a near death experience. Sure it's scary at the time but if you take some time to laugh about it, it might just take some of the edge off."

Mike turned to block Sam's path, "let's get one thing clear Sam. I don't want to hear any more jokes from you regarding our near death experiences or jokes about other people's deaths. Even if we do get off this mountain alive, I have no intention of laughing about any of this and neither should you. Death is not a laughing matter. Four of our friends died horribly on this very mountain three weeks ago, Beth the year before that and Hannah turned into a monster. Right now Josh and those rescue workers could be dead or dying and we're the only ones who can save any that are still alive. Now let's go, we've got a job to do."

As much as he didn't think it was going to work, Mike waited for any indication that his warning had made Sam feel any kind of emotion. He didn't care what it ended up being. Sadness or anger it didn't matter, as long as Sam felt something. Sadly all Sam did was shrug and give Mike a mock salute before moving past him. Mike shook his head. He was starting to worry that even finding Josh alive was not going to be enough. It was appearing more and more that the girl Sam used to be was long gone. With nothing more to say, Mike caught up with Sam and the two continued on their way to the mine entrance.

* * *

Unknown to Mike and Sam, their journey to the mine entrance was not going unnoticed. The wendigo that had initially found them managed to catch up to them using an alternate path and was now silently stalking them. Fortunately for the wendigo, Mike and Sam rarely remained still so it's motion-based vision never lost sight of them. It kept a safe distance from the duo as it followed them out of the sanitarium and proceeded to watch them from a hiding place when they stopped just outside the entrance to the mine.

* * *

"We're here," Sam said as she and Mike stared at the mine entrance.

"Yep," Mike replied, "hopefully this entrance will stay open long enough for us to find the survivors and get out."

Sam pulled out one of the lanterns from her back pack. The plan was for her to take point holding the lantern in her left hand and the flare gun in her right hand. Mike would follow behind her and keep his shotgun ready for any surprises. Because his shotgun was not sawed-off like the one he used last time, it required him to hold it with two hands thus making him unable to hold a lantern himself.

"I know I asked you this last time we were here but how many wendigos do you think are still alive and don't just say 'too many' again."

Mike exhaled as he did the math in his head, "well there were twelve miners who had survived the cave-in and turned into wendigos. According to the flamethrower guy's journal, he killed six of them. If Hannah was possessed by a spirit that one of the wendigos released, then that adds one more bringing it back to seven. I killed three in the sanitarium and then we killed Hannah and two other wendigos when we blew up the house and we just killed…."

Mike didn't finish his statement but Sam didn't need him too. Both of them came to the same realization. Something wasn't right. Based on Mike's count, there were thirteen wendigos total and the one they had just killed had brought the count to thirteen dead. That meant there shouldn't be anymore wendigos for them to worry about. But then how was it that there were two wendigos chasing them in the sanitarium? They killed the one that was locked in a cell but before that they were being chased by one that tried to trick them into thinking it was a woman in distress. While the count wasn't making sense, Mike and Sam decided that it didn't matter. The way they figured it, there was at most only one wendigo still alive.

"That's good right?" Sam said, "two against one. That wendigo won't stand a chance."

"You know as well as I do that it won't be that easy Sam," Mike replied, "personally I'd rather we don't run into it again."

"Well we know that won't happen but I guess we can still try. Let's go."

With Sam's lantern lighting up their path, Mike and Sam entered the mine. The lantern gave plenty of light but the mine was still as dark and damp as they remembered. It was also quiet for the most part. Still that just made every sound that Mike and Sam heard cause them to tense up.

They had made it about halfway to where they remembered finding the wendigo's lair when they were overcome by a strong, unpleasant oder. The mine didn't smell nice as it was but this smell was different from the others. Moving slowly forward, Sam used the lantern to scan the area in the direction of where the smell was coming from. Mike had his finger on the shotgun's trigger ready for whatever they were going to find. Finally Sam found the source of the smell. She didn't give any reaction but Mike covered his mouth and made a sound of disgust.

The source of the smell was the decomposing corpse of a woman. She was an average-sized woman with dark hair and brown, lifeless eyes. Her outfit wasn't a uniform so she wasn't a cop or an EMT. Mike guessed that she was one of the volunteers from the search party. Ultimately the thing that Mike's attention was drawn to was the gaping hole in the woman's abdomen. He wasn't a medical examiner but Mike had a feeling the woman died as a result of being disemboweled by a wendigo. The only relief Mike could get from this situation was the fact that the wendigo seemed to have taken whatever it pulled out of the woman with it. Mike didn’t think he would have been able to handle the sight of someone whose stomach and other insides were spilled out in front of them. Even so, the sight was still disturbing. At least, it was for Mike.

"Let's go," Sam said stoically, "there's nothing to see here."

Mike was about to scold Sam for being indifferent to the woman's fate when something on one of the woman's arms caught his attention. He told Sam to wait and keep the lantern on the body. Sam was reluctant to do it at first but did as Mike asked. As grossed out as Mike was, he managed to kneel down to get a closer look at the woman's right arm. What he found was that a section of the woman's arm had been bitten off. But that wasn't what was troubling him.

"Do you see this Sam?" he asked.

"If you mean the bite that the wendigo left on the woman's arm then yeah," Sam replied.

Mike shook his head, "this wasn't a caused by a wendigo Sam. You've seen how sharp a wendigo's teeth are, they would have torn right through her arm. This wound looks too neat. It's like someone was either trying to be really careful or they were hesitant about taking the bite. I think…this bite was made by a person."


	6. Found

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

_  
_ "A…person?" Sam asked as she knelt down next to the woman's body to get a closer look at the wound Mike pointed out. "Are you sure?"

Mike shrugged, "I'm not an expert but it's the only explanation that makes sense. The rescue workers have been down here for more than a week without food. One of them must have decided that since this woman was already dead that there was no harm in eating her."

As Mike was talking, he was also looking through the woman's pockets. He didn't like the fact that he was going through a dead person's things but there had to be a clue to the woman's identity somewhere. It may not have seemed like much but he felt having that information would be useful later.

The first thing Mike noticed was that the woman was wearing a wedding ring. He silently prayed that the woman's husband was not among the volunteers as he didn't want to think that the husband was the one who ate her. It was when he searched her right pant pocket that he found a pocketbook that contained the woman's identification. According to her driver's license, the woman's name was Maureen Jacobson. Her address listed her as living in one of the towns near the mountain. Mike felt that his hunch was right and Maureen was a search party volunteer. If she had only known what fate awaited her, Mike wondered if she still would have volunteered to look for Josh.

There was nothing else of interest in the pocketbook or on Maureen so Mike got up and got back behind Sam as they continued on their way. As they walked, Mike took one last glance back at Maureen's body. Discovering her body had brought back memories of when he and Sam had found their friends' remains in the wendigo den. He had hoped he would never have to see deaths as gruesome as that again. Three weeks later, his hopes had been dashed. He also knew it wasn't going to be the only time it would happen as there was one rescue worker he would have to kill before they turned into a wendigo. Maybe he had been kidding himself when he said he was going to be able to save Josh and the rescue workers. After all, he couldn't save his other friends.

"Stop it Mike," he thought to himself, "you're doing it again. There are still at most thirteen rescuer workers that can be saved. You'll find them and Josh and you'll do whatever you can to save them. It's better to try and fail than to never try at all."

"I guess that bite means we now have more than one wendigo to worry about," Sam said snapping Mike out of his thoughts.

"Yes and no," Mike replied, "we don't know when that bite was made. There's a chance that the person who did it hasn't begun to show any symptoms. Although based on Hannah's journal and a patient case study I found in the sanatorium, symptoms can show as early as three to four days. We better hope it's been that long since the bite was made otherwise we're going to have a hard time figuring out which one of the rescue workers did it when we find them."

"If that's the case, we'll just hold them up with our weapons until we find the one we're looking for and blow their brains out before they completely turn."

Mike smacked his hand against his face, "you don't think that's just a little bit overkill Sam?"

"No, overkill would have been me suggesting that we just kill everyone to be sure we get the right one."

Mike let out a frustrated sigh, "forget it. Look Sam, my point is that we are here to rescue these people. If we show up and the first thing we do is point our weapons at them, they are never going to trust us. Without that trust it will be tougher for us to get them to see why we are going to have to kill one of them. They may know they are being attacked by a monster but they don't know about how it is created when a person resorts to cannibalism. The only way we're going to be able to get the rescue workers to let us help them is if we handle this with a delicate touch."

Sam sighed, "I can't promise I'll be delicate but I'll do what I can."

Sam's words weren't exactly comforting to Mike but he was going to have to take what he could with her.

* * *

Shortly after Mike and Sam left Maureen's body, the wendigo that had been following them at the sanatorium reached it. From where it was, the wendigo was still able to see Mike and Sam as they moved further away. It was about to move closer when the wendigo suddenly felt a strong hunger pain. This wasn't unusual as a wendigo's hunger for human flesh could never be satisfied. Normally the pain would prompt the wendigo to charge right at the first moving thing it saw. Except that wasn't the case this time. For some reason the wendigo didn't bother going after Mike and Sam. Instead it knelt down next to Maureen's body and began feasting on what was left of it. While it was temporarily satisfying its hunger, the wendigo didn't enjoy the taste of leftovers. Yet despite the craving the wendigo had for fresh meat, something stronger was keeping it from wanting to eat Mike and Sam. So it was left with no other choice but to finish eating Maureen's remains and resume stalking its targets.

* * *

It was taking longer to reach the wendigo den than the previous time Mike and Sam made the trip. However it wasn't because they were lost as they both remembered well the path they took to get there. What was slowing them down was all the new sights they were seeing on the way…and none of them were good.

All along the walls of the mine were new stains and holes that weren't there before. The lantern Sam was holding was bright but it still required her and Mike to take a closer look to figure out what they were. It was no surprise to either of them when they realized that the stains were dried blood and that it was bullet holes that riddled the walls. This all indicated to them that a terrible fight had occurred there. Normally a person wouldn't be able to guess who won a fight without much evidence but Mike and Sam knew this fight could only have one winner, the wendigo. Without fire, the rescue workers wouldn't have stood a chance. The only question that couldn't be answered was if any of the rescue workers had escaped alive. Based on the amount of blood that lined the walls, either a lot of them were wounded…or dead. There weren't any bodies lying around the scene but the wendigo easily could have taken them to its den. Mike and Sam were just going to have to wait until they got there before the final outcome of the struggle would be revealed.

They continued past the battlefield and walked only a short distance more when they heard a new sound coming from up ahead. There was something familiar about the sound as it was causing the hairs on the back of Mike's neck to stand up. Sam didn't have the same kind of reaction as Mike but she too felt that the sound was familiar. It was only after they reached the spot where the mine opened up a bit that they found the source of the sound.

"Oh no," Mike thought.

The place they were in was the spot that had been haunting Mike's nightmares ever since they got off the mountain. It was the waist deep body of water they had to cross before they finally reached the wendigo den last time. The very spot where Mike was forced to hide as the wendigo that used to be Hannah dragged Josh back into the den. If only there was something he could have done to save Josh and then he wouldn't have had to come back to the hellhole that was Blackwood Mountain and the rescue workers wouldn't have been sent to rescue him.

"Ready for another swim Mike?" Sam asked.

Mike shook his head, "no way Sam. After what happened the last time I was here, I'd prefer we stay on dry land."

"Okay but I thought we were in a hurry to find Josh and the rescue workers. Cutting through the water is the quickest way."

"We are in a hurry but we need to be smart too. However unlikely it might be to find, there has to be a safer path. It's not going to do Josh or the rescue workers any good if we get killed before we reach them."

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Sam was about to argue more when they suddenly heard a woman screaming from across the water. She and Mike quickly raised their weapons and pointed them towards the source of the scream. Just like in the sanatorium, they shared glances to silently communicate with each other. If it wasn't for the fact that this skill had saved their lives twice already, Mike would have been creeped out by how he and Sam could read each others' minds. Through silent communication, Mike and Sam weighed out the possible explanations for the scream.

It could have been the wendigo that chased them in the sanatorium using the same ploy that it tried to pull last time. After all, there was another way into the wendigo den by climbing down a cliff. That was how Sam left the den three weeks ago and a wendigo would be more than capable of the climb. On the other hand, it was also possible that they had finally located the rescue workers. If that was the case, the scream they had heard was not a good sign. It meant the rescue workers were possibly in trouble and needed help right away. So as much as Mike didn't like it, he had to agree with Sam that crossing through the water was the only way forward.

(SPLASH)

"HOLY…..!" Mike started to say after he and Sam jumped into the ice cold water.

"Sh…shhh!" Sam shushed with a stutter as the cold overtook her, "yeah…it's co…co….cold Mike. We le…le…learned that last time. You d…d…don't need to shout it t…t…to the whole world."

Mike threw Sam a mean glare as they continued crossing the water. They were moving fast but Mike was taking whatever time he could to scan the surface for any unusual ripples. There was no way he was going to let himself get caught by a wendigo hiding in the water again. To his and Sam's relief, they managed to reach the other side without any trouble. Unfortunately they didn't have a chance to catch their breath as a new sound came from up ahead. To their surprise, it was the sound of someone crying. Soon the crying was joined by the sound of overlapping voices.

"Would someone shut her up?!" said a male voice. "That thing could be close by and hear us."

"Leave her alone." a woman's voice different from the one that made the scream replied, "You can't blame her for being upset after what she just saw."

While the voices continued arguing, Mike and Sam quietly opened the door to the wendigo den.

"How could she be bothered by that after we've already watched our colleagues get torn apart by that thing?"

"Because those were kids' bodies she found and from the looks of it they died horribly. No kid should die like that."

Mike tensed up a bit when he heard the last statement. He knew well whose bodies the rescue worker was talking about. At that moment, he flashed back to when he and Sam first entered the wendigo den three weeks ago. They weren't prepared for what they saw. Inside the den were the remains of their friends Matt, Chris and Ashley. Matt and Chris' headless bodies were found hanging upside down along with the headless body of the stranger. Ashley's body wasn't but her severed head was in a cage hanging from the ceiling. It was a sight so horrible that Sam was screaming in denial and Mike was having a hard time keeping himself from throwing up. Only Mike's timely spotting of Josh helped them take their minds off the horrors of the den.

Now Mike was going to have to see them again and after they had been left to rot in the mine for the last three weeks. One of the other things Mike had been feeling guilty about after he got off the mountain last time was that he had to leave his friends' bodies as they were. He wanted to give them a proper burial but he knew there was no way a recovery operation could be a success with the wendigos around. Unfortunately he couldn't say that to his friends' families so they were still holding out hope that the rescue workers would bring their loved ones home.

Entering the den, Mike and Sam were quickly overtaken by the unmistakable oder of decomposing bodies. They tried covering their noses but the scent was still strong. Finally they reached the part of the den where the wendigo kept its victims and Mike couldn't believe what he saw. The bodies of their friends were found just as they were last time though in worse shape due to the time and elements. If Mike didn't already know it was them, he would have had a hard time recognizing the bodies as his friends. Seeing his friends' bodies caused to Mike close his eyes tightly and brought him to the brink of tears. However what was more disturbing were the new bodies that hung from the ceiling. In addition to their friends, the bodies of three men and two women were also in the room. Two of the men were wearing police uniforms and one of the women was wearing a paramedic uniform. The other man and woman were not wearing a uniform so Mike figured they were volunteers like Maureen. The wounds on the bodies told Mike that the wendigo killed them just as horribly as their friends.

"Look on the bright side Mike," Sam said, "Josh isn't here. That means we at least have a chance of finding him alive."

While Mike was still frustrated that Sam was being indifferent to seeing their friends' bodies again, he had to admit Sam did have a point. Josh would have been brought to this room if a wendigo had killed him already. Assuming Josh hadn't died of dehydration or starvation by now, he could still be alive elsewhere in the mine. Of course Josh still would have to wait a little longer as something else required Mike's immediate attention. He held his hand up telling Sam to wait a moment while he took a peek through the same crack in the wall that he did last time when he found Josh. Through the hole, he found the source of the voices he and Sam were hearing.

In the next room were the nine remaining rescue workers. Unfortunately aside from how many people there were and where they were positioned, Mike wasn't able to make out much about any of them. What little light there was in the room only allowed him to see silhouettes and the light from Sam's lantern couldn't shine through the wall. Whatever Mike was going to do next, he was going to have to do it blindly.

"All right Sam," he said after weighing his options, "these people are on edge from being down here for a week. I think it's best that I go in alone so we don't surprise them too much."

"I thought I was supposed to be the one who was crazy Mike," Sam said, "don't you remember from the news that some of these people are police officers who likely have guns? They will probably shoot you before you get a chance to say anything. Besides, even if you were able to get them to listen to you, what about the fact that one of these people is probably the one who ate that woman we found. If they're starting to turn, you might just end up eaten."

"You'll just have to trust me Sam. Stay here until I call you. Don't do anything before then unless it's ABSOLUTELY necessary. Got it?"

Sam let out a frustrated sigh but nodded. With the plan set, Mike slowly entered the room with his hands raised. There was still some arguing going on among the group so none of them noticed Mike enter. As he got closer, he was able to determine a little bit more about the makeup of the group. Of the nine survivors left, six of them were men and three were women. Knowing he had to get their attention before he got closer, Mike cleared his throat. They all jumped and turned towards Mike while some also pulled out weapons.

"Don't shoot!" Mike said quickly, "I'm here to help."

To his relief nobody fired their weapons. However the weapons stayed trained on him as the group processed what they were seeing. Mike was about to say more when a face in the group got his attention. He couldn't believe it. The face belonged to the detective who interviewed him after he was rescued from the mountain last time.

"Detective Blake?"

Upon hearing Mike say her name, Detective Katheryn Blake stepped out from the crowd. At thirty years old, she was easily what could be considered attractive with her long brown hair, brown eyes and her fit body that came from keeping herself in shape for her job on the police force. Of course her spending a week in the mine had hurt her appearance a bit. When she got a good look at Mike, her eyes widened with shock.

"Michael?" she gasped. "What are you doing here? You are the last person I would expect to find down here."

"I told you, I'm here to help. When I saw the news coverage about the cave in that trapped you all down here, I came as quick as I could."

"You shouldn't have come here son," one of the other survivors said, "you have no idea what's down here."

"Let me guess," Mike said pretending to think, "a monster?"

The group looked at Mike surprised at his answer before one survivor asked, "how did you know?"

"Because I've seen them before. They were the things that killed my friends. I told Detective Blake everything when she interviewed me. I told her that this mountain was dangerous and people needed to be kept away from here. Apparently she didn't listen to me."

Mike gave Blake a disapproving look as he made his last point. Blake's reaction was a mix of anger and guilt. She didn't want the blame to fall squarely on her but at the same time Mike was right about how she didn't take his warning seriously. It would have been easy for Mike to continue with his blame game but he didn't. Ultimately he knew that if the roles were reversed, he would have reacted the same way. Trying to convince anyone who didn't believe in monsters that they were real is next to impossible. Instead he waited with his hands still raised for everyone to relax and put their weapons down. With a frustrated sigh, Blake signaled for everyone to lower their weapons. When they were lowered, Mike was able to put his hands down.

"So how exactly are you going to help us Michael?" Blake asked. "I realize that you've survived against these things before but at one point we had myself and three armed police officers fighting one of them and we couldn't kill it. Only Detective Powell and myself survived that fight. Forgive me if I'm a little bit confused as to how one kid with a shotgun is going to make a difference here."

Mike sighed, "I told you when we talked at the station Detective that fire is the only thing that will kill them. You could unload several clips worth of bullets into it and the best you will be able to do is slow it down. Aside from my shotgun, I have a flare gun, some flares and some spray cans that can be used as make-it-yourself flamethrowers. Also, I'm not a kid and I'm not stupid enough to come down here without some help of my own."

Deciding that it was calm enough, Mike called for Sam to come out from hiding. He silently hoped that she wasn't going to come in with her weapon raised. Thankfully she followed his lead and slowly entered with her hands raised. She didn't appear happy to be coming in that way but Mike was at least glad to see she was sticking to the plan. Things would have continued to go well except…

"SAM?!" said another member of the group.

Mike turned to the source of the voice and saw a hulk-like man step forward. Based on the amount of facial hair on his face, Mike figured it was recently grown due to being unable to use a razor for a week. One of the sleeves on his shirt was missing revealing an arm with a bicep big enough that Mike had a feeling this was not a guy he wanted to get in a fight with. Unfortunately that was what this guy appeared to be looking for. He then turned back to Sam who was now sporting the same creepy smile that Mike had been seeing on her a lot lately.

"Well I'll be," she said in a fake surprised tone, "if it isn't Detective David Powell. Funny running into you here."

Now it made sense to Mike. The hulk that was in front of him was the detective who interviewed Sam at the police station. He remembered how Sam had told him that she told Powell that they needed to go down into the mine to look for Josh. His heart started racing as he realized how that was going to affect this reunion.

"You!" Powell screamed as he stepped towards Sam. "You're the reason we're down here! GOOD PEOPLE ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!."

The next few seconds moved in slow motion for Mike. He watched as Powell ran towards Sam like a bull charging at a matador with his hands reaching for her throat. At the same time, Sam was calmly reaching for the flare gun. Blake and the other members of the group called out for Powell to stop but didn't try to stop him themselves. Given Powell's size, it didn't surprise Mike that everyone was too afraid to get in front of him. Still someone needed to do something. With no other choice, Mike got in front of Powell and raised his shotgun. Powell stopped when he saw the gun but the brief surprise on his face didn't stay long as the anger returned. He quickly pulled out his own weapon as did the other members of the group.

"So much for your plan of introducing ourselves peacefully Mike," Sam said with a chuckle.

"NOT NOW SAM!" Mike shouted as he kept his gun pointed at Powell. "EVERYONE ELSE JUST RELAX!"

"Kind of hard for us to relax Michael when you have your gun pointed at Powell," said Blake.

"I wouldn't have needed to raise my gun if Detective Powell didn't look like he was about ready to kill Sam. I said that Sam and I were here to help and this is how you show your appreciation Detective?"

"She's the reason we're even in this mess!" Powell growled. "Now put the gun down Michael. You and I both know you won't kill me. Step aside and let me at that crazy bitch!"

Mike raised the shotgun higher so that it was now aimed at Powell's head, "Not a chance. I don't want to kill you Detective but I am trying to keep anymore people from dying in this hellhole. If you want to kill Sam then you'll have to kill me too because it's going to be me who dies before anyone else here."

It was a stalemate. Nobody wanted to lower their weapons but they also didn't want to fire them. Only Sam seemed to be enjoying the situation much to Mike's annoyance. In a last ditch effort, Mike threw a pleading look to Blake. As the only other cop in the room, she was probably the only one who could talk Powell down. Blake initially appeared reluctant but finally nodded.

"Everyone stand down," she ordered, "you too Powell."

"Are you serious Blake?!" Powell replied not taking his eyes off of Mike. "We're partners! You're supposed to have my back!"

"I do but Michael's right. He and Sam know these monsters better than we do. If we're going to get out of here alive, we'll need their help."

The rest of the survivors had already lowered their weapons leaving Mike and Powell as the only ones with their weapons still raised. In an attempt to show cooperation, Mike slowly lowered his shotgun. Powell reluctantly lowered his gun too. Mike breathed a sigh of relief.

(SMACK)

To Mike surprise, Powell used his free hand to sucker punch Mike sending him to the ground. The force behind the punch made Mike feel like he had been hit with a bat. He had to shake his head several times before the pain lessened to the point where he could concentrate on what was going on around him again. He looked back towards Sam and saw that Powell was charging at her. Sam had the flare gun raised and pointed at Powell's head. Her finger was slowly starting to pull the trigger.

"DON'T SAM!" Mike shouted.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Everyone in the room froze when a scream echoed throughout the room. Without moving his head, Mike quickly scanned the room with his eyes. Looking up towards the top of the cliff Sam had climbed out the last time he was in the room, he saw the source of the scream. Scaling down the wall was a wendigo. He was about to whisper to everyone to not move a muscle when something else caught his attention. His eyes widened with horror when he realized what it was.

"No," he thought, "it can't be."

The wendigo was pretty high up the cliff wall but Mike could just make out something on its right shoulder: a butterfly.


	7. Chaos

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

"Hannah?"'

Though it seemed impossible, there was no other explanation for why the wendigo had a picture of a butterfly on its shoulder. The creature Mike was seeing scaling down the cliff wall was Hannah. The question now was how did she survive the explosion at the Washington estate? From what Mike could see, she didn't get out of the house completely unscathed. Her skin had some burn marks that weren't there the last time Mike saw her.

It was then Mike remembered the one wendigo that chased him in the sanatorium. That one was caught in the explosion there but it still managed to chase after him even though it was on fire. It would have killed him if it hadn't been for Sam's timely arrival. The wendigo finally died after Sam knocked its head off. If that wendigo could survive an explosion, a wendigo as big and strong as what Hannah had become could have survived it too.

(CLICK)

The sound of a gun clicking got Mike's attention. He slowly turned his head to see that Blake and another one of the survivors were raising their weapons at Hannah.

"Don't," he said quietly but sternly, "don't…shoot. Nobody…move…a muscle."

Everyone except Sam looked at Mike like he was crazy.

"Trust…me," he pleaded.

All eyes turned to Blake. It was quickly becoming apparent to Mike that Blake was the leader of the group. In a way it made sense since she was a cop and likely the senior officer between her and Powell. Mike silently hoped that Blake seeing everything he warned her about coming to pass would convince her to take his advice and get everyone else to do the same. To his relief, she nodded. Everyone else did the same and froze in their current positions.

Meanwhile, Hannah was now reaching the bottom of the cliff wall and landed on the ground in an upright position. She scanned the area as she tried to locate the group. Even though everyone was right in front of her, her motion based vision was not registering them. She then started walking through the group coming within inches of several of them. A few people nearly jumped when Hannah got close to them but they managed to remain frozen.

The whole experience was giving Mike a sense of déjà vu as he thought back to when he and Sam had to do the same thing to escape from Hannah at the Washington estate. At one point, Hannah was inches from him after he broke the light bulb that was going to be used to set off the explosion. However it was Sam who came the closest to death as at one point Hannah got practically face to face with her. Mike glanced over to Sam to see if she was okay. To his surprise, she was still relatively calm. He thought that if anything would get a reaction out of her, it would be finding herself reliving one of the scariest moments of her life.

Suddenly Mike realized that Sam being calm could actually give them an advantage. Sam had lowered the flare gun during the confusion caused by Hannah's screech but she still had it in hand. At the same time, Hannah was moving away from Sam's position and was not looking in her direction. It was going to take a dangerous game of red light-green light but Mike felt Sam could draw the flare gun and hit Hannah before she could see it coming.

Mike made eye contact with Sam to get her attention. He then alternated between looking at the flare gun and at Hannah. Just like when they were in the similar situation at Washington estate, Sam picked up on his plan and nodded. Slowly she raised the flare gun so that it was pointing at Hannah. She had to stop moving a couple of times when Hannah briefly looked in her direction. Each time Mike was worried that Hannah would notice that Sam had moved but she never did. When Sam finally had the flare gun leveled, she slowly pulled the trigger.

(BANG!)

(BANG!)

Sam's shot missed as Hannah had unexpectedly taken a step out of her sight. Initially confused by how Sam could miss, Mike realized that he had heard two shots go off. There was no way Sam could have fired two shots from the flare gun. Looking towards the source of the second shot, Mike saw that it came from a pistol fired by one of the male survivors. The man who was about average sized and looked around thirty years old, began moving forward while continuing to fire at Hannah. The look on the man's face was very similar to the one Powell had when he went after Sam. He was angry at Hannah for something. It was when Mike noticed the wedding ring on the man's hand that he put the pieces together. The man was Maureen's husband. His theory was confirmed by what the man shouted next.

"YOU KILLED MO YOU BASTARD!"

Each shot Mr. Jacobson fired struck Hannah but her armor like skin made each one bounce right off. Hannah then let out a loud screech that caused the other survivors to cover their ears. The screech even caused Sam to drop the flare she was attempting to load into the flare gun. With everyone distracted, Hannah charged towards Mr. Jacobson. To get to him, she had to get past another male survivor who was still disoriented from the screech and stumbling around. With little effort, Hannah jammed her clawed hands through the man's chest and flung him across the room. Between getting skewered by Hannah's hand and how hard he hit the opposite wall, there was no way he could have survived. Mike was briefly horrified by watching the man die but he quickly snapped out of it when he saw that Hannah was now inches from Mr. Jacobson. With no reason to remain still anymore, Mike pulled out his shotgun and fired. Being more powerful than a pistol, the shot knocked Hannah off her feet.

"SAM!" Mike shouted. "I'LL HOLD IT OFF! GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE!"

"ARE YOU CRAZY MIKE?" Sam replied. "I'VE GOT THE FLARES! YOU NEED MY HELP TO KILL IT!"

"GETTING THESE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE IS MORE IMPORTANT! NOW GO!"

Sam looked like she wanted to argue more but she quickly saw that Mike's mind was made up and shrugged it off. Calling for the other survivors to follow her, Sam led them out the way she and Mike entered the den. By that point, Hannah had recovered from the shotgun round and was preparing to leap toward the group. Mike readied his shotgun to fire another round.

"RUN FOR IT…OOF!"

One of the survivors was in such a hurry to get out of the den that he wasn't paying attention to where he was gong. As a result, he ran right into Mike sending both of them to the ground and making Mike miss his shot. They both tried to get up but it was too late. Hannah was already leaping right towards them. Mike closed his eyes as he waited for the end.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Mike could hear the guy who knocked him over screaming in pain as Hannah flew by them. To his surprise, Mike opened his eyes again and saw that he was no worse for wearer. There were no new wounds anywhere on his body. He turned around just to time see Hannah land behind him. Did she miss him somehow? That didn't seem likely since Mike was practically a sitting duck.

"AHH….GOD!"

Mike's confusion was interrupted by screaming coming from the man lying next to him. Mike turned his attention to the guy and saw that he wasn't as lucky in avoiding injury. There was a deep cut across his abdomen. With a wound like that, he wasn't going to be moving on his own. Mike was going to need to help him and he needed time to do it. He quickly grabbed his shotgun, reloaded and fired. With Hannah stunned again, Mike took the man's arms and tried to drag him to safety. The man's screams got louder but Mike kept pulling. It was slow going but Hannah wasn't going to be stunned for long and they needed to get to the exit. Using all the strength he had, he pulled the man as hard as he could.

Suddenly Mike began moving faster. While it was ideal to move quickly, he couldn't understand how it was possible. Then he realized it was because he wasn't struggling as much to drag the guy. It was like he had gotten lighter somehow. More disturbing, the guy wasn't screaming anymore. Though he was sure he didn't want to know why that was, Mike looked down and gasped. He was only dragging half a man. The man had ripped in half right where Hannah had cut him. His legs were now laying a few feet away.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Mike didn't have time to process what had happened as Hannah had recovered and was charging at him again. He tried to raise his shotgun but was knocked down by Hannah before he could get a shot off. Now lying defenseless on the ground, Mike found himself face to face with Hannah. The eyes staring back at him were not the same brown eyes he remembered Hannah having but instead pure white. Hannah let out another screech that made Mike flinch even though he was trying to remain still. There was no doubt in his mind that Hannah knew he was a live person and would make a great meal for her. Yet she didn't seem to be ready to take a bite out of him. Instead Hannah continued staring at him with an expression that almost looked like…contemplation…almost like….she recognized him.

Thinking back to when he saw Josh get taken, Mike realized the look he was seeing on Hannah's face was the same one she had before she chose to spare Josh and take him to the wendigo den. Since that day Mike still hadn't decided if it was just luck or if it was because there was a small bit of Hannah's old self still inside that recognized Josh as her brother. Seeing Hannah's expression at that moment caused him to now think more towards the latter. This made Mike think of something he never considered before. The last time Mike was on the mountain, Hannah had likely stalked him several times long before he knew about the existence of wendigos. She would have had plenty of chances to kill him but she didn't. As a human, Hannah had a huge crush on Mike. The crush was the reason he and his friends pulled the prank on her. If Hannah still had some of her human thoughts and feelings then her crush on Mike could be what was keeping her from killing him.

(BANG)

A gunshot brought Mike out of his thoughts and made Hannah screech again. Mike looked towards the source of the shot to see that Mr. Jacobson had come back. Though the bullet still didn't do any damage to Hannah, it was the distraction Mike needed to make a move. At point blank range, he fired his shotgun at Hannah's chest. The force of the shot sent Hannah flying backwards. Scrambling to his feet, Mike ran for the exit. He almost made it when he noticed that Mr. Jacobson wasn't following him.

"COME ON!" he called out to Mr. Jacobson.

Mr. Jacobson shook his head, "THIS THING KILLED MY WIFE! I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL IT'S DEAD!"

"You're not going to kill it that way. We need to catch up with the others and find someplace safe to come up with a plan. So are you coming or do I need to drag you out of here?"

Mr. Jacobson briefly hesitated before letting out a sigh of frustration and running towards Mike. Once he was convinced Mr. Jacobson was coming, Mike fired one more shot to keep Hannah down long enough for them to get away. He managed to catch a glimpse of the two men who had been killed before leaving. It was hard to believe that two people could be killed in such a short amount of time. As much as Mike wished he could have helped them, he had to shake it off. Half of the trapped rescue workers were dead and he needed to focus on trying to keep the reaming survivors alive and finding Josh. The only wrinkle in that plan besides Hannah was that he still needed to figure out which of the survivors was going to be turning into a wendigo soon.

* * *

The group had managed to find a relatively safe place to rest deeper in the mine. There weren't many ways to enter this area so they would be able to see Hannah coming easily and have time to flee. Mike was maintaining a lookout position near one of the entrances. Unfortunately listening for any indication that Hannah was coming was proving difficult with the quiet but tense arguing Blake and Powell were doing behind him. He let out a frustrated sigh and he resumed watching the entrance. Even after what happened in the lair, the two detectives would not use the opportunity to rest. If Mike had to guess, he would say they were still arguing over whether or not to accept his and Sam's help. Blake was likely the one who was for it while Powell was continuing to be stubborn about it. The one thing Mike couldn't guess was whether it was because Powell didn't want to take orders from someone he considered to be a kid or if it was because of his hatred for Sam.

"Do you mind if I take a look at you?" asked a male voice.

Mike turned towards the voice to see that one of the survivors he hadn't met yet had approached him. The man was in is forties but the gray in his hair and beard made him look older. As evidenced by his uniform and his I.D., Mike determined that he was a paramedic named Benjamin Richter. His occupation explained why he wanted to take a look at Mike.

"Sure," Mike replied, "I feel fine but I guess a checkup wouldn't hurt."

The examination didn't take long as Mike didn't receive any new injuries from the attack. Still Mike was impressed with Richter's thoroughness. There were bound to be more injuries until the group could get out of the mine so Mike felt it was a good thing they had a medic around.

"Well," Richter said when he had finished, "you seem to be in good shape Michael. Kind of amazing considering what you've been through."

"You mean what I'm STILL going through," Mike replied, "when I tried to save the man and he literally tore in half….I thought I'd seen the worst things imaginable three weeks ago….but…"

"I know what you mean kid. Working as a medic, I've seen some horrible shit too. All I can say from personal experience is that you have to put what you saw out of your mind and focus on what's happening right now. Once we're safely out of here, then you can break down and cry about it (laugh). Sorry I couldn't put that any gentler but I'm only gentle when tending to physical wounds."

Mike chuckled, "it's okay. I appreciate the advice though. Thanks."

As Richter left, Mike smiled. Richter seemed like a good guy. Not only was he a skilled medic but he seemed to genuinely care about the people he tended to. While he wasn't thinking about it when he was talking to him, Mike hoped that his conversation had built up some rapport so that he now had at least one more friend among the group.

"Do you think it's him?"

Mike almost jumped when Sam appeared and sat down next to him. He was also surprised to hear her talking. She had been quiet ever since they left the den. With the way she had been behaving lately, he couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. Still she was talking to him now so he was going to have to answer her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Is he the one who is going to turn into a wendigo?"

"Uh…I wasn't really thinking about it but I don't think so."

"Mike, we need to find out which one of these people is going to turn into a wendigo and fast. You're the one who wants to handle this delicately so I get the feeling that I'm not the best choice to talk to these people. If you talk to them, maybe you might be able to figure it out. I'll keep a lookout while you're doing that."

Mike had to admit it, as crazy as Sam may have seemed lately, she had a good point Someone in the room with them was a wendigo time bomb that could go off anytime. He quickly came up with a plan to uncover which one it was. If he went around the room and offered the food he had in his backpack to the survivors, it would give him an opening for small talk that would help him gauge their mental states. While it was unlikely, the food itself would also serve as a test. None of the food Mike had was a meat product and since wendigos only crave meat, a person who was going to turn into one might already be developing a craving for it. With a plan in mind, Mike took the bag and joined the rest of the group.

There were three people that Mike hadn't been introduced to yet so he started his rounds with them. The first person he talked to was a twenty-eight year old man who introduced himself as Jerry Norton. Mike was a little nervous when he first saw Norton because the man was a skinny guy who looked like he hadn't eaten for a while. His worries were gone when Norton happily took the food he offered. While Norton ate the food, Mike felt like he could begin the small talk.

"So what made you volunteer to join the search party?" he asked.

"Believe it or not," Norton said between mouthfuls, "I work for La Viande Meat Processing, Ltd.."

"Wait…La Viande?" Mike asked surprised, "Sam found a business card from your company in the lodge that had order information for a circular saw and replacement blades. That was a clue that helped us realize that Josh had actually staged his death in the shed and that he was the psycho that was stalking us."

"Yes, we were the ones that he bought that stuff from. Some of my colleagues and I joined the search because we felt partially responsible for the deaths of your friends. Everyone thought Josh was the killer and that meant we likely gave him the tools he used to do it. While it's still sad what happened to them, it is a relief to know that our giving Josh equipment didn't play a part in it."

"I guess that's one way to look at it. Well hopefully we'll get out of here and you can tell your coworkers that yourself."

Leaving Norton to finish his food, Mike moved onto the next survivor. The survivor was an average size, red-headed woman who looked to be about thirty-eight years old. Introducing herself as Rebecca Walters, she revealed that she was an insurance agent who was also a friend of the Washington family.

"I take it that was why you joined the search?" Mike asked.

"Yeah," replied Rebecca, "I was there for Josh and his parents when Hannah and Beth disappeared. I don't think in all the years I've known Bob and Melinda that I've ever seen them so broken up before. With Josh missing now, I just couldn't bare the thought of seeing them go through that again so I wanted to do what I could to help."

It was easy for Mike to relate to Rebecca because he had been feeling a similar way the last week. With a small smile, Mike offered Rebecca some food in attempt to cheer her up.

(SMACK)

If there was one thing Mike didn't expect to happen when he offered someone food, it was getting the food slapped out of his hand. The sting from the slap was painful enough that Mike had to shake it off. Rebecca seemed just as shocked by her outburst as Mike.

"I'm…sorry," she said, "I…I don't know what came over me. I appreciate the offer but I'm just not hungry."

"Are you sure?" Mike asked though he refrained from actually attempting to offer her the food again.

"Yeah, I'm just still a bit shaken up and don't feel like eating right now."

While Mike wanted to believe that what Rebecca said was true, he couldn't ignore the possibility that the reason she didn't want the food was because she was developing a wendigo like craving for meat. As he left Rebecca alone, he made a mental note that he was going to need to keep an eye on her.

The last survivor Mike had to meet was actually a woman that he was already familiar with. In fact there weren't a lot of people who didn't know who she was. Known simply as Alice, the blonde, twenty-two year old was one of the biggest pop singers in the music industry. It was difficult for Mike to guess what a celebrity like Alice would be doing on Blackwood Mountain.

"Let me guess," Alice said when Mike approached her, "you want to know what's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this."

Mike was slightly taken aback by Alice's comment, "what?"

"I just figured I'd save you from the embarrassment of using a pickup line I've heard from nearly every guy I've met."

"Uh…thanks but it wasn't necessary. I have a girlfriend so I had no intention of flirting with you. Although I am curious about why you are here."

Alice sighed, "it was my agent's idea. He thought it would be good for my image if the public saw me doing charitable work. I would have been okay if it was something like helping at a soup kitchen or cleaning up a park but not this. My agent's going to be lucky if he still has a job when I get out of here."

"Yeah I can imagine," Mike said making a painful hiss.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing here? When you showed up, I recognized you from the news reports about what happened here three weeks ago. It just doesn't make sense to me that you would come up here to rescue complete strangers after what you went through. I'm grateful that you came to help us but, in my experience, no one is that selfless."

"I meant what I said when I found you guys but I would be lying if I said that you're wrong about me having another reason for coming. You don't know the whole story about what I went through up here last time. The short version is that I failed to save all my friends. Even though I can't help them now, at least I can try to help you guys."

"That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself, you know?"

"That's what my girlfriend tried to tell me before I convinced her that I had to come. The thing is I'd rather deal with the pressure than the guilt I would have felt it if you all were killed and I didn't do anything to try and prevent it."

Wanting to change the subject, Mike quickly offered Alice some food. She initially accepted but she suddenly changed her mind when she saw the food. It was hard for Mike to figure out why Alice would have a sudden change of heart. Worse case scenario, she was the wendigo and was at that moment getting the craving for meat. On the other hand, being a celebrity Alice was probably used to a more high class diet and couldn't bring herself to eat Mike's common food despite the dire circumstances. Still Mike left some food for Alice in case she changed her mind.

Blake and Powell were still arguing when Mike came by to offer them food but they stopped long enough to take some. The thing that bothered Mike though was that they stopped arguing the minute he started walking towards them. Normally when people argued as strongly as Blake and Powell were, a person would have to shout at them to get them to stop. Mike didn't have to do that for Blake and Powell. It seemed to prove his theory that they were arguing about him. As much as he wanted to find out what was going on, Mike didn't want to make the situation worse by prying so he left Blake and Powell to argue some more.

Mr. Jacobson was the last person Mike had to give food to. The exchange was either the easiest or the hardest depending on how you looked at it. Besides taking the food and saying that his name was Tyler, Mr. Jacobson didn't do or say much when Mike tried to make small talk. Mike felt bad for the guy. In a way, he sort of knew what Tyler was going through. When Mike thought he had lost Jessica, he was a wreck. That experience should have made Mike the one person who could help snap Tyler out of it. The problem was Mike didn't actually lose Jessica. How could he be sympathetic when his girlfriend was alive and Tyler's wife was dead?

Mike looked at the remaining food items in his backpack. As much as he wanted to have some of the food himself, he knew that he had to save some for Josh. Between the two of them, Josh was the one who would need it the most. He closed up the backpack and rejoined Sam at the lookout post.

"So did you learn anything useful or were you too focused on getting Alice's number?" Sam said with her creepy smile making another appearance.

"Knock it off Sam," Mike said trying to keep from losing his cool again.

"I was wondering, are you one of those guys who makes a list of celebrities he would hook up with if there were no consequences and is Alice on said list?"

"Are you finished?"

"(Laugh) Yeah, go ahead."

Mike rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh before continuing, "nobody is showing any of the physical symptoms yet but I do have my eyes on a few people who are acting weird."

"Have you figured out how to tell the others that we're going to have to kill one of them?

Even though he didn't have an idea, Mike was about to answer Sam when he noticed that Blake and Powell had stopped arguing again and were looking right at him. This didn't go unnoticed by the others who joined Blake and Powell looking in Mike's direction. Mike nervously gulped as Blake and Powell came towards him and Sam. If looks could kill, the one Powell occasionally gave Sam would have left her a smoldering pile on the ground. Sam just smiled as she appeared to be enjoying the tension. Fortunately for Mike it was Blake who spoke first.

"Michael," she said, "Powell and I have been having a…disagreement about whether or not we're going to let you help us."

"That's an understatement," Sam remarked.

"Sam!" Mike scolded before returning his attention back to Blake. "What are you talking about Detective? If this is because Detective Powell doesn't like Sam…."

"No it's not about that. The problem is not with Sam, it's…"

"It's you," Powell growled.

"Me?!" Mike said surprised.

"Before I agree to let you help us, you need to answer some questions about that monster friend of yours."

"M…my what?! What are you talking about?"

"You heard me. I think you've got some kind of connection with that monster. Why else would it let you live? That could also explain why you survived three weeks ago when your other friends didn't. (scoff) Don't look at me like I'm crazy. That monster had you pinned down and helpless on the ground yet it didn't kill you. Our group has encountered that thing several times. Each time it resulted in someone getting slaughtered by the creature without hesitation. Now if you think my hunch is wrong, then tell me right now why the hell that thing let you live and not them!"


	8. United

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

The confused looks staring back at Mike when he finished speaking were to be expected. After all, he had just finished telling them everything he knew about wendigos. To any person who had never seen one before, Mike would have sounded like a crazy person. However the group was not looking at him with confusion because of that. They had already seen a wendigo so any info Mike gave them didn't seem that far-fetched. The reason for their confused expressions was because of the last thing Mike mentioned regarding the origin of the wendigo that attacked them in the den.

"So…" said Rebecca as she was still trying to wrap her head around what Mike said, "that monster that has been attacking us….that was Hannah?"

Mike nodded, "yes. Now you all know the truth about what happened to her and Beth when they disappeared last year. I didn't want to believe it either when Sam and I found her journal three weeks ago but that's the way it is. Honestly I'm surprised she's still alive now. Sam and I thought we killed her with two other wendigos when we blew up the house."

"Well we've got eight dead colleagues that definitely disprove that," Powell growled, "this is all really fascinating but you still haven't answered my question. What does all of this have to do with why that monster didn't kill you?"

"Hannah had a crush on me when she was human. I don't know if there is any truth to this but I think a small part of her that is still human recognized me and that her feelings for me kept her from killing me. It would also explain why she didn't kill Josh."

If the group was confused by Mike's earlier revelation about Hannah, they were completely lost when he mentioned Josh.

"I thought you said at the station that she did kill him," said Blake.

"The truth is Detective Blake, that's the other reason I'm here. Since that night, I've been thinking back on when I last saw Josh and I realized that I never actually saw him die. Instead I saw Hannah drag him away kicking and screaming. It wasn't the first time Hannah didn't kill him when she had a chance either. She recognized him as her brother and I think that's why she's kept him alive. I know it's been almost a month since he was taken but Hannah managed to survive that long before she ate Beth's body and became a wendigo. If Josh is still alive down here, he needs to be found quickly before the same thing happens to him."

 

 

 

"Wait," Alice interrupted, "you're not saying that you want us to help you find him, are you? We need to get out of here."

"No that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying finding Josh is my other reason for being here. I will get you guys out of here first but I am not leaving here myself until I've found Josh."

"Neither am I," Sam said.

The sudden support from Sam surprised Mike a little bit. For the longest time she had been acting like she was just along for the ride and didn't care about the mission itself. She even said she only agreed to come because she didn't want to end up in a mental institution and that finding Josh would only be a "bonus". Mike hoped that this sudden show of support was a sign that Sam was getting better. Even if she was only helping because of her feelings for Josh, it would be an improvement over how she had been acting since that day at the police station.

"I'm not leaving either," Tyler said to the surprise of everyone, "I'm sorry about what happened to Hannah but that doesn't change the fact she killed my wife. I won't leave until she's dead, whether by my hand or yours."

"Sure," Sam said before Mike could speak, "the more the merrier."

Normally Mike was a believer in the logic that more hands made light work but not in this case. Sam was the only person he trusted to fight wendigos, which given her mental state may not be the best thing. However the two of them had already worked well together to take down one wendigo so he knew they could do it again. Adding other people to the mix who were still learning about wendigos would just make things more difficult as Mike would find himself having to fight a wendigo while keeping Sam and seven other people alive.

There was also the matter of how he didn't like Tyler's motive for coming. Tyler had already endangered the group trying to get revenge for Maureen's death. Even if Mike made Tyler promise to follow his instructions, he doubted it would work. The way Mike saw it, Tyler was a flight risk that he couldn't take a chance with. He was about to argue against Sam when Rebecca spoke next.

"I want to come too," she said, "Bob and Melinda are my friends. If I fled rather than helped look for their son, I will never be able to look them in the eye again."

Richter raised his hand, "count me in too. Josh will definitely need medical care when you find him and I'm the most qualified to give it to him."

Even though Mike still wanted to get everyone out of the mine and have him and Sam look for Josh themselves, he couldn't help but admire the fact that Rebecca and Richter were willing to help despite the risks. He even found himself smiling when Norton nodded to indicate he would come too. Alice still seemed determined to get out of the mine as soon as possible which Mike couldn't blame her for wanting to but then she said she would come too. Mike figured it was because she didn't want to go anywhere alone. The question now was what did Blake and Powell want to do? Up until that point, they were the unofficial leaders of the group. Now most of its members were deciding to follow Mike and Sam. All eyes were now on the detectives as they waited for a decision.

Blake sighed, "I don't like this but I'll go too."

Powell looked at Blake like she had lost her mind, "you can't be serious Blake. Look I was willing to believe the Washington boy could have still been alive up here when we thought he was a killer on the run. Now that I know about the monster, I'd say that any chance of him still being alive up here is zero."

"You heard what Michael said," Blake replied.

"Yeah, he said the monster didn't kill Josh because he's its brother. He also said the monster let him live because it has a crush on him. Come on you can't tell me that doesn't sound crazy. The boy is dead Blake. There's no reason for us to risk our lives to prove it."

"Powell…"

"Now listen up everyone," Powell said turning to the others, "this search is over. We're getting out of here now. Michael, take us out the way you got in here."

After what happened the last time Mike stood up to Powell, he was not willing to risk another fight with him. On the plus side, it was giving Mike a reason to get everyone out of the mine without having to deny their help. He still appreciated the offer but his goal when he came back to the mine was to get as many people out alive as he could. Having the others come with him and Sam to look for Josh was too risky. His mind made up, he began to do what Powell asked when Sam spoke first.

"With all due respect Detective," she said, "we don't take orders from you. We're here to find Josh."

Powell's face began to turn red, "listen you little bitch, too many people have died already because you sent us here looking for your dead boyfriend. If you think I'm going to let you trick more people into following you to their deaths, you are insane."

A familiar creepy smile reappeared on Sam's face, "insane? Wow and most people thought I was just going crazy (laugh)."

Sensing that Powell was about ready to lunge again, Mike slowly reached for his shotgun. He had been trying to avoid another standoff but Sam's mental state and Powell's temper were not making it easy. Fortunately Rebecca spoke before things could escalate further.

"Detective," she said, "we all appreciate that you want to help us get out of here but we've made our choice. We're going to help Michael and Sam find Josh."

While less violent than the last one, the group was once again at a stalemate. Mike took the moment to scan the faces of the group in an attempt to guess how the situation would be resolved. To his frustration, Sam was giving Powell a boastful "we win" look". Powell noticed this but he couldn't act on it because the rest of the group were looking at him with disapproval. On the one hand, Mike was glad to see everyone else standing up to Powell. On the other hand, Mike knew that a person who was used to being in control would try anything to maintain it when threatened. There was nothing he could do but hold his breath and wait.

To everyone's relief, Powell let out a frustrated sigh and held up his hands in surrender. He then crossed his arms and cued Mike to go ahead. With all eyes now on Mike, he had quickly become the leader of the group. This time it was his turn to let out a frustrated sigh. There was no point trying to get everyone out now as their minds were made up.

The first thing Mike did was take off his backpack and ask Sam to do the same. He then asked for everyone to gather around. If everyone was going to come along, Mike needed to do what he could to give them a chance of staying alive when they ran into Hannah again.

"Alright everyone," he said, "if we're all going after Josh, each person is going to need something to defend themselves. Sam and I only have the one flare gun and shotgun but we do have some spray cans and lighters. With these, each of you can make a small flamethrower. They may not be strong enough to kill the wendigo but they should work as a repellant. Use these to keep the wendigo from getting too close to you. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Tyler said as he held out his hand, "can I have the flare gun?"

"No way," Sam said as she put a hand on the flare gun, "get your own."

"Easy Sam," said Mike, "I'm sorry Tyler but I'd rather Sam keep it. You'll just have to trust that we'll take care of the wendigo."

Tyler sighed, "fine."

"Good, now if there aren't any other questions, everyone take a spray can and a lighter and we'll move out."

* * *

It was an uneventful trip back to the wendigo den. Most people would call that a good thing but not Mike. As he lead the group deeper into the den, he thought about how if they were going to run into Hannah, he preferred it to be sooner rather than later. There was no telling how long it was going to take them to find Josh and it wasn't going to go any faster if they were having to keep a constant lookout for Hannah. He turned his head to get a look at everyone behind him. Sure enough, some of them were getting wound up due to the lack of activity.

At least Mike hoped that was why they were getting wound up. When he and Sam were handing out the supplies, Sam nudged him in an attempt to get him to tell the others about the fact that someone was going to turn into a wendigo. Mike knew he had to but he just couldn't do it. The tension between the members of the group may have calmed down at the moment but that could easily change. Telling them that someone was going to turn into a monster might start a witch hunt and that was going to make it more difficult for Mike to find the right person. For the time being, he was going to have to keep that information between him and Sam and they would just have to keep a close eye on everyone.

Upon taking a closer look, Mike noticed that Alice was the one who seemed the most on edge. While it could have just been nerves, there was still a chance that she was going through the transformation into a wendigo. The fact she turned down the food Mike offered earlier put her on his radar in the first place. Mike decided he had to talk to Alice some more. He turned to Alice and gestured for her to come join him at the front of the line. Alice seemed a bit confused by the request but moved towards Mike. As she moved up, Mike noticed Sam watching from the back of the line. She had once again managed to figure out what Mike was thinking and slowly reached for the flare gun. Mike subtly shook his head to stop her. Thankfully no one else seemed to notice the exchange and Alice reached Mike without incident.

"How are you holding up?" Mike asked.

Alice looked at Mike like he had asked a stupid question, "how do you think? I'm in a damp, dark mine where a monster could pop out and eat me at any moment."

"Right, sorry. For what it's worth, I did want to get you all out of here before looking for Josh but…"

Alice nodded, "I know, everyone else wanted to help. You don't need to worry though, I'm not blaming you for me being here. I could have chosen to find my way out of here on my own but I didn't. As much as I want to get out of here, I felt like I had a better chance of surviving if I stayed with you guys."

"That was probably wise. Well if it makes you feel better, I promise I'll do everything I can to ensure you don't end up regretting that choice."

Mike couldn't be sure but it looked like Alice was smiling, "I appreciate it but are you sure you really want to put more pressure on yourself?"

Mike nodded, "I can take it. So, does that help?"

"A little. The food you left me helped too."

The last statement surprised Mike, "you did eat the food?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry I turned you down when you first offered it. I was being picky and I stupidly thought I could wait until we got out of here to eat. Turns out the food was pretty good. Thank you."

After giving Alice a comforting pat on the back, Mike pulled ahead to the front of the group again. Hearing Alice had eaten the food he offered was a relief. Though he knew he couldn't take it to mean she was for sure not going to turn into a wendigo, it was enough to lower her spot on his suspect list. Still the clock was ticking and he needed to find the right person fast.

"Michael?"

A voice behind Mike surprised him. He turned around to see that Norton and Richter had caught up to him.

"Shouldn't we have found Josh by now?" Norton asked. "The monster's lair can't be that big, can it?"

Mike shrugged, "hard to say. The thing is that there were other wendigos up here at one point. The den would have to be big enough to accommodate all of them."

"It's also possible that the monster set up a new den since you and Sam found the last one," Richter said, "you wouldn't keep your food in a place that was known to those who might want to steal it."

"That's a good point. Unfortunately that means it's going to be harder to find Josh. Do you guys still think you made the right choice by coming along?"

"Absolutely," Richter replied, "I'm sure you and Sam can take care of yourselves but I meant what I said before. I hope we can get through this without anyone else getting hurt but it's better for me to be here in case someone does."

"Ditto," said Norton, "I mean I know I can't treat wounds but I just want to help however I can."

Mike smiled, "thanks guys."

"Michael," Blake called from behind the trio, "can Rebecca and I have a word with you?"

Richter and Norton excused themselves leaving Mike alone at the front of the group waiting for Blake and Rebeca to join him. As they approached, Mike let out a frustrated sigh. When he first introduced himself to everyone, he almost had to pry conversations out of them. Now all of the sudden everyone wanted to talk to him. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that he was now the leader of the group.

Despite being frustrated, Mike was slightly concerned. From Blake's tone of voice, it sounded like she and Rebecca wanted to talk about something bad. The questions was what could it be. As far as Mike knew he was on good terms with both of them and they both agreed to help with the search. What could they…?

Then Mike remembered how Rebecca was another one of his possible wendigo suspects because of how she had slapped at his hand when he offered her food. Maybe Blake was noticing a change coming over Rebecca and that was what she wanted to talk about. Before he could give the matter more thought, Blake and Rebecca had reached him. At first glance, Rebecca didn't look any different but Mike knew that didn't mean anything for sure.

"Something I can do for you ladies?" Mike asked.

Blake and Rebecca shared a nervous look before Rebecca spoke, "we wanted to talk to you about Sam."

Mike had to resist rolling his eyes. He should have known this was coming. With things being as crazy as they were during the first few moments he had spent with the group, there hadn't been a lot of time for small talk about him and Sam. Now that things were as quiet as they could be given the circumstances, Sam's mental state was finally being questioned.

"What about her?" Mike asked even though he knew the answer.

"Michael," said Blake, "while I'll admit that Powell has been a bit harsh on her, you have to admit Sam hasn't exactly been helping matters either. It almost seemed like she enjoyed provoking him."

"Not to mention I saw her smiling when we first met and were pointing our guns at each other," said Rebecca.

"And it's not the first time I've seen her smile like that. I watched the recordings of Powell's interview with her. We didn't think much of it at the time but now…"

"Is there a point coming soon?" Mike interrupted harshly.

Blake hesitated to reply but Rebecca decided to just cut to the chase, "we're worried Sam could be a danger to the group."

Rebecca's blunt comment now made it easier for Blake to speak, "look Michael, in my line of work I've seen a lot of people with psychopath and sociopathic tendencies and…"

"Whoa," Mike interrupted, "Sam is not a psychopath or sociopath."

"Are you sure?" Rebecca asked. "Believe me, I hope we're wrong but what if we're not. What if Sam snaps and she tries to kill us."

It was becoming difficult for Mike to keep himself from having another outburst. As much as he had every reason to raise his voice, he couldn't afford to let Sam hear what they were talking about. He knew the ladies weren't wrong about needing to be concerned about Sam but he refused to believe that Sam's mental state was that damaged. Somewhere inside there had to be a piece of the caring, gentle girl that came up the mountain three weeks ago. If that was the case, she could never bring herself to kill anyone for any reason. As far as Mike was concerned, that was enough to give him the confidence that Sam wasn't going to become a psychopathic killer.

"Look," he said to the ladies quietly but sternly, "if I was worried about Sam's mental state, I wouldn't have asked for her help. She will be fine. The only thing we need to focus on is finding Josh and getting out of here alive. Got it?"

Blake and Rebecca didn't answer but Mike took their silence as a sign that he had made his point. He continued walking leaving them to their thoughts. The group proceed to walk a little further when…

"You've got to be kidding," Mike said nearly dropping his gun in shock.

"There's no way I'm crossing that," Alice said while slowly backing away.

In front of the group was an old wooden bridge that stretched across a canyon that was easily two hundred feet deep. Possibly built back when the mines were operational in the fifties, it had not aged well in the decades that followed. The wooden planks looked so weak that one wrong step would likely result in someone falling through them. The group had to get to the other side of the canyon if they wanted to keep looking for Josh but was crossing a rickety bridge the best way to do it?

Upon closer inspection, Mike could see that the canyon was wide enough to rule out simply hopping across it. The next best option would have been to go around it which seemed possible since it didn't stretch far in either direction. Unfortunately the only thing at both ends of the canyon were unclimbable walls. The only option left was to go back the way they came and try to find another path. The problem with that idea was that there was no telling how long it would take to find another path and time was not something they could afford to waste. Josh was either going to die or turn into a wendigo anytime unless they found him, assuming he hadn't already.

"We have to cross," he said.

Powell scoffed, "you're kidding right? There's no way that bridge can support all of us."

"If we go slowly and one at a time, we should be fine."

"I hate to break it to you Mike," Sam said with a chuckle, "but even I am not crazy enough to try and cross that."

"HELP!"

Before Mike could argue more, a woman's voice was heard screaming behind the group. He saw that each of the four women in the group reacted to the noise so that ruled them out as the source. It was then Mike realized that there was something familiar about the voice. He turned to Sam who silently communicated that she was thinking the same thing. The voice they were hearing was the same one they heard in the sanatorium. It had to be Hannah trying to lure them into another trap. Mike was about to tell the rest of the group but Tyler spoke first.

"Mo?"

"HELP ME PLEASE!" the voice called again.

At first Tyler looked like he had seen a ghost but then a smile started to appear, "Mo! She's alive! I'M COMING MO!"

Tyler attempted to follow the voice but was stopped when Mike grabbed him, "Tyler what are you doing?"

"LET GO OF ME!" Tyler shouted as he tried to break free of Mike's grasp, "MO NEEDS HELP!"

While struggling to hold Tyler back, Mike was trying to wrap his head around what Tyler was doing. The one thing that had been on Tyler's mind since the two of them met was killing Hannah to get revenge for his Maureen's death. Now he was suddenly believing she was alive and in danger. Having seen what happened to Maureen himself, Mike couldn't understand how Tyler could suddenly think she was still alive. His grip was starting to loosen when Sam had come to help him.

"Tyler your wife is dead," she said a little bit harsher than Mike would have liked, "or did you forget about that fact that she had her insides ripped out of her body?"

Sam's comment had caused Tyler to stop struggling but now he was the one looking confused, "what are you talking about?"

Suddenly a thought popped into Mike's head. As unlikely as it seemed, what if Tyler wasn't with his wife when she died. If he wasn't, then he wouldn't have seen how she died and thus had every reason to be surprised by Sam's comment. Not seeing his wife die would also explain why he was so quick to believe that she could still be alive as he hadn't seen her body. You could tell a person their loved one was dead but if that person doesn't see a body, they can always believe there is still hope of finding them alive. Best of all, it allowed Mike to finally put aside the thought he had been trying not to have: that Tyler might have eaten his own wife's arm and was the one who was going to turn into a wendigo. Still somebody had to have told Tyler his wife was dead in order for him to want revenge in the first place and that could very easily be the person who did bite Maureen's arm. Mike was going to have to ask Tyler about that later but first they needed to get out of their current situation and they had to do it fast as the voice was getting louder.

"Listen Tyler," he said, "Sam and I found your wife's body when we were looking for you guys. I'm sorry but she's not the one calling for help. The wendigo can mimic the sounds of its prey. It's trying to lead us into a trap."

"So what do we do?" Blake asked.

"Well going back the way we came is only going to lead us right to the wendigo. Like it or not, this bridge is our only option. So who's going to be the first to cross?"


	9. Crossing

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

It was amazing how the fear of being torn apart by a wendigo could make the fear of a rickety bridge vanish. Mike watched as Sam was the first one who attempted to cross the bridge. She may have said she wasn't crazy enough to do it but she volunteered when given the alternative. Mike knew that as long as Sam took it slow and she carefully placed her feet on the planks, she would be fine. Unfortunately that was not the method she was using. Instead she was alternating between running, jumping and, at one point, looked like she was pretending to play hopscotch. Each step she made caused the others to nervously gasp. Finally Mike couldn't take it anymore.

"SAM!" he scolded. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE THE BRIDGE GIVE WAY?!"

"Sure," Sam chuckled, "do you know a better way to test the bridge's durability? If I make it across after doing all this, you'll know it's safe for everyone else."

The rest of the group looked at Mike with an expression that asked if Sam was serious. Mike just let out a frustrated sigh and turned around to keep a lookout for Hannah. After a few more tense moments caused by Sam jumping on the bridge, she made it safely across. While Mike didn't appreciate Sam's carelessness, he had to admit that it gave him a bit more confidence that the rest of the group would be able to cross as well. The question now was who would be the next to try.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Hannah's screeching helped answer that question as Norton charged across the bridge. His crossing method may not have been as dangerous as Sam's but everyone in the group held their breath in fear until he made it safely to the other side. Mike was now starting to feel like he was going to have a heart attack if people kept crossing the bridge recklessly. Fortunately he felt like that wasn't going to happen anymore. The remaining members of the group were either too afraid to cross or seemed like they could keep their cool and cross carefully.

Alice was the next one who attempted to cross with the key word being "attempted". She barely took a step onto the first plank before being scared off by the creaking noise it made. It was apparent to Mike that Alice was not going to be crossing the bridge willingly on her own. The bridge had survived two people crossing it less than carefully already so maybe it could handle two people crossing at the same time. Normally Mike would have volunteered to help Alice cross but he wanted to be the last to cross so that he could use his shotgun to keep Hannah back if she arrived before everyone else made it to the other side. Fortunately Richter had the same idea and agreed to escort Alice across. Having Richter by her side helped ease Alice's fears and the two began their trek across. Not waiting for Alice and Richter to reach the other side before proceeding, Powell and Blake went next. Mike, Tyler and Rebecca were now the only ones left to cross. Another screech was heard while they were deciding who was going to go next. The screeches were getting louder as Hannah continued to get closer. Hannah's pending arrival was making Mike and Rebecca anxious but it was causing Tyler's thirst for vengeance to reemerge. He pulled out his spray can and lighter and moved towards the voice before Mike grabbed him.

"Don't even think about Tyler," he said.

"Don't try to stop me Michael," Tyler replied, "you and Rebecca get across. I'll hold it off. Maybe I'll even kill it with this mini-flamethrower."

"I told you guys that those are only for repelling the wendigo. You'll be dead before that thing can do enough damage to kill it. You go with Rebecca and I'll keep it back with my shotgun."

"But…"

"Tyler please," Rebecca pleaded, "I don't want to cross alone. Do what he says."

Rebecca then held out her hand for Tyler to take. Tyler looked at her hand for a second before letting out a frustrated sigh and taking it. The duo then started making their way across.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Hannah sounded like she would be appearing any minute. Now that the last of the survivors were crossing the bridge, Mike took his first step forward. The creaking noise the plank made when he stepped onto it made him flinch. He would have remained frozen if it wasn't for yet another screech Hannah made. Deciding he'd rather take his chances with the bridge instead of Hannah, Mike started moving faster. The further he got from his starting point, the more nervous he was getting. His shotgun was only really effective at close range. If Hannah appeared now, he would be too far away to do enough damage to stun her. He was starting to feel better when he realized he was now halfway across the bridge.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

It wasn't the fact that Hannah screeched again that surprised Mike, it was where it was coming from. Up until that point, it sounded like Hannah was right behind the group. The last screech sounded like it came from above Mike. He looked up and realized why. Hannah was crawling on the ceiling as she approached the bridge. Instinctively Mike aimed his shotgun and fired. This time Hannah wasn't stunned by the shot. Mike's fear that he was too far away to do damage with his shotgun was proven true. Still Mike fired one more shot that ended up being less successful then the first. The shots had caught the attention of Tyler and Rebecca who stopped and turned around to see what was going on. At that point, Hannah had dropped down from the ceiling and was now standing just short of the bridge's first plank. Mike started reloading his shotgun expecting Hannah to continue onto the bridge. However that was not what Hannah did. Instead, she screeched again as she raised her arms and extended her claw like fingers. Mike's eyes widened when he figured out what Hannah was doing.

"RUN!" he shouted as he turned around. "GET OFF THE BRIDGE NOW!"

Tyler ran first with Rebecca right behind him while Hannah was now bringing her arms down in a swift motion to cut the ropes holding the bridge up. Mike ran while also wrapping the shotgun strap onto his shoulder. This freed up his hands and secured the shotgun onto his back. He couldn't afford to lose the shotgun in whatever chaos was about to ensue. Looking ahead, the other side of the bridge seemed so near and yet so far away.

(SNAP)

Everything seemed to move in slow motion when Mike heard the unmistakable sound of ropes being cut. Beneath his feet, the planks he was standing on began to drop. He saw everyone on the other side gasp in shock. Mike quickly realized there was no way he was going to make it to the other side before he started falling as well. With no other option, he dropped down with the bridge and grabbed onto one of the planks like it was a rung on a ladder. He then braced himself as best as he could for the impact of the bridge swinging into the opposite cliff wall. The pain Mike felt from the impact was almost bad enough that he nearly let go of the plank. Fortunately he managed to hang on and had now put his feet through a gap between two other planks. He waited until the bridge had stopped swinging completely before opening his eyes. All the while he was repeating to himself "don't look down."

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

A scream from above caused Mike to look up. Screaming and hanging on for dear life above him was Rebecca. Mike carefully moved to the side so that he could look past Rebecca. There was no sign of Tyler and Mike didn't recall feeling Tyler fall past him. He hoped that meant that Tyler had managed to reach the other side safely. In any case, he now needed to focus on finding a way to get him and Rebecca to the top of the cliff.

"SAM!" he called.

Silence.

"SAM!…TYLER!…DETECTIVE BLAKE!….ANYONE!"

The lack of response from any of the group members who made it to the other side before the bridge collapsed both confused and terrified Mike. Where did they go? More importantly why would they go anywhere and leave him and Rebecca literally hanging? Without any help from them, it severely reduced the options Mike had for getting out of his current predicament. Still there had to be a way. Before Mike could think of one though, he needed to get Rebecca calm.

"Rebecca," he said, "it's going to be okay."

The only reply Mike got from Rebecca was another loud scream followed by crying.

"Rebecca listen to me. I know you're scared but I need you to calm down."

"Calm down?!" Rebecca screamed, "we're hanging on the side of a cliff and you expect me to be calm?!"

"Listen to me, I'm going to figure something out but I need you to try and calm yourself so I can think."

The obvious solution Mike could think of was simply treating the bridge like a ladder and climbing up that way. He tried moving up one plank but hesitated when the plank his foot stepped onto started creaking. Even though Mike had seen the bridge stand up to the abuse Sam had put on it, he knew there was still a chance it wouldn't continue to hold if he tried climbing up. Still it wasn't like he and Rebecca had a lot of other options.

"Okay Rebecca," he said, "all we have to do is climb up the bridge like a ladder. Just take it slow and easy and we'll reach the top in no time."

Rebecca shook her head, "I can't!"

"You have to. It's the only way."

Realizing Mike was right, Rebecca slowly began climbing. Mike followed close behind her. It was a slow process as each step caused a plank to creak. Fortunately the planks didn't break and they were almost at the top of the cliff. Rebecca was about to reach up to grab the last plank when she froze. Mike was about to ask why she stopped when he heard something. It was footsteps. Someone…or something was above them and approaching the cliff's edge. He carefully turned to face the opposite side of the canyon to see if Hannah was still there. Sure enough Hannah was still right where Mike had seen her before she cut the ropes so it couldn't have been her making the footsteps. So who or what was above them?

"Are you guys alright?"

Mike and Rebecca nearly lost their grip on the bridge when a new voice from above startled them. They looked up to see that the source of the voice was Norton who had suddenly appeared. Mike quickly regained his composure while Rebecca looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Dammit Jerry," she said while breathing heavily, "are you trying to make us fall?"

"S…Sorry," Norton replied with a slight stutter, "I w…was just checking t…to see if you guys were o…okay."

"Hey Norton," Mike said, "where's everybody else?

"Oh…th…they went to look for a rope o…or anything that could help you g…guys climb up but it l…looks like you're doing fine on y…your own."

Mike wasn't having any trouble understanding what Norton said but the fact that Norton was stuttering at all was troubling him. There was something strange about it. It didn't seem like Norton was stuttering because he was struggling to come up with words to say or because he had just been startled himself. It was almost like he was struggling to speak because he was in some sort of pain. Mike was about to ask Norton if he was okay but Rebecca spoke first.

"Whatever," Rebecca said as she held out her hand, "could you just help me up please?"

Norton nodded and began reaching out to take Rebecca's hand when he suddenly stopped short.

"Come on Jerry, what are you waiting for?"

Rebecca may have been getting frustrated with Norton but Mike was getting nervous. Something wasn't right. Why was Norton taking so long to help Rebecca up? Upon closer inspection, Mike noticed that Norton seemed unable to decide if he was going to take Rebecca's hand. He also noticed that Norton was sweating profusely. It was freezing cold inside the mine so there was no reason for Norton to be warm enough to sweat. Finally there was the fact that Norton looked like he was still in some kind of pain. Slowly Mike continued climbing to try and get a better look.

"Norton?" he said as he climbed. "Are you feeling alright, man?"

"Jerry!" Rebecca shouted. "Help me up!"

Norton winced when Rebecca shouted. When he opened his eyes again, it was then Mike saw that there were no color in his eyes except pure white. Mike's own eyes widened when he saw them. When he was pinned down by Hannah after he first met the group, he had seen that same exact color in her eyes. The question he and Sam been asking since finding the group had been answered. It was Norton who ate Maureen's arm. He was the one turning into a wendigo.

"REBECCA GET AWAY FROM….!"

"AAAHHHHHHH!"

Before Mike could finish his warning, Norton had suddenly taken Rebecca's arm and bit into it. This caused Rebecca to emit a piercing scream that nearly made Mike cover his ears. After recovering from the shock of the scream, Mike watched in horror as Norton continued taking bites out of Rebecca's arm while Rebecca was struggling to get free and shouting at Norton asking him what he was doing. While he didn't know what he could do, Mike knew he had to do something to help. Thankfully the bridge was wide enough that he could easily climb around Rebecca and pass her. Throwing caution to the wind, Mike climbed up the bridge faster and moving slightly to the left with each step. He was just starting to get past Rebecca when she started falling. As she fell, Mike could see that Norton had managed to bite Rebecca's arm right down to the bone. Using the one good hand she still had, Rebecca barely grabbed one of the bridge's lowest planks. With her other arm too badly damaged however, all she could do was dangle with no way to pull herself up. Mike didn't know if Rebecca was screaming because of the situation she was now in or because of the pain the wound on her arm was causing.

"Hang on Rebecca!" he said. "I'm coming down to get you."

As Mike climbed down, he couldn't help but wonder if he was going crazy. He had just struggled to climb up the fragile bridge ladder and now he was risking a trip down to help Rebecca. Still what else could he do? He couldn't just leave her and there was still no sign of the rest of the group. It was up to him to try and help.

"HELP ME!" Rebecca screamed. "I CAN'T HOLD ON!"

"I'm coming! Just hang on"

"HELP ME MICHAEL!"

The second time Rebecca called for help, Mike could have sworn she sounded like Jessica. For a moment, he flashed back to when Jessica was being dragged by Hannah to the mine. He remembered chasing after her and hearing her cry out to him for help. He took several quick but dangerous paths in an attempt to catch up to her. It paid off in the sense that he managed to reach Jessica before Hannah could hurt her but then Jessica fell down the elevator shaft. Until he saw her at the police station, Mike thought she had died in the fall and he mentally beat himself up for not getting to her in time. Now Mike was in an eerily similar situation with Rebecca.

"No don't think like that Mike," he said to himself to get out of his current thought, "Jessica is fine. Just focus on saving Rebecca."

Unlike when he tried to save Jessica, Mike couldn't rush his effort to save Rebecca. It was killing him inside that he couldn't but a hasty descent could result in a plank snapping. If one did, then both and he and Rebecca would fall. He continued telling Rebecca that he was coming in an attempt to calm her down even though he knew it was an all but pointless task given the situation Rebecca was in. Further complicating the situation was the fact he was having to look down to talk to Rebecca. As a result he was now fully aware of how deep the canyon was. Normally Mike wasn't afraid of heights but that was because he was never in a situation where the height was an immediate danger.

"HURRY MICHAEL!" Rebecca cried, "I'M SLIPPING!"

Sure enough Mike could see that Rebecca's fingers were slowly losing their grip on the plank. If he was going to make a move to help her, it needed to be soon. At that point he was standing on the plank just above the one Rebecca was hanging from. Right away Mike knew it wasn't going to be easy pulling her up. Ideally he would use both hands but he needed to keep one on the plank to keep himself from falling. Likewise Rebecca had to hang on with her one hand but that was because it would hurt to try and hang on with her injured arm. There was only one thing for Mike to try and it was going to be slightly disgusting for him and painful for Rebecca.

"Give me your other arm Rebecca," he said as he held out one hand.

"I CAN'T!"

"You have to try Rebecca! Give me your arm and I'll pull you up."

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

"You're not going to die Rebecca. Just trust me."

It was hard to say if Rebecca had decided to trust Mike or if she realized she didn't have another option. Either way, she slowly began reaching for Mike's hand with her other arm. It was painful for her to move it but she was actually getting her arm within Mike's reach. Keeping a firm grip on his plank, Mike lowered himself down further in an attempt to close the final distance between his arm and Rebecca's.

(SNAP)

Suddenly the plank Mike was hanging on gave way. With only nanoseconds to react before he fell, Mike's survival instinct kicked in and he reached to grab the next plank up. He held his breath and hoped that it wouldn't break too. It didn't. That would have made him feel relieved if it wasn't for what happened next.

Mike's struggle to hang on had caused the bridge to swing back and forth for a few seconds. The additional movement proved too much for Rebecca as she lost her grip on the bridge. Like a falling scene in a movie, everything seemed to move in slow motion as Rebecca plummeted to the bottom of the canyon. All the while screaming Mike's name like she thought he could still somehow save her.

"NOOOOOOO!" Mike screamed as it was the only thing he could do.

Mike continued to watch Rebecca until he turned away to avoid watching her hit the bottom of the canyon. He somberly bowed his head and closed his eyes when he heard the impact. Then he heard another sound that forced him to open his eyes and look down where Rebecca hit the ground. It sounded like…coughing. Though it was hard to believe, Rebecca had survived the fall.

"Rebecca?!" Mike called. "Can you hear me?!"

The only response Rebecca could give was another cough. Sadly that wasn't a surprise. Nobody could survive a fall like that without sustaining multiple injuries. With the injuries she likely had, she wouldn't be able to walk or talk. Mike felt that even if Richter was somehow able to get to Rebecca, he wouldn't be able to do anything for her. As much as he hated to think it, he felt Rebecca would have been better off if she had died on impact.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

With everything that had happened with the bridge and Norton, Mike had forgotten that Hannah was still at the opposite side of the canyon. He looked to where he last saw her but she wasn't there. A quick glance around revealed that Hannah was scaling down the canyon wall. When she reached the bottom, she slowly moved in Rebecca's direction. Mike wanted to warn Rebecca not to move but he knew that if he did, it would just make Hannah come after him. He then thought that maybe he wouldn't need to warn her. Rebecca's injuries would keep her immobile on their own. As long as she didn't make a sound, Hannah would never find her. Mike watched as Hannah continued scanning for Rebecca but was unable to find her. Then Rebecca became aware that Hannah was near her and, without thinking, softly screamed.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

That was all Hannah needed to locate her target. With her target acquired, Hannah pounced onto Rebecca. From his vantage point, Mike couldn't see Rebecca anymore but boy could he still hear her. He may have heard Rebecca scream several times in the last few minutes but the one he was hearing her make at that moment was the worst one yet. Add the fact that he could hear what sounded like Hannah biting and chewing and he had an all too clear picture of what was happening below him. It may not have been the first time Mike witnessed a wendigo killing someone but it was the first time he was seeing one actually eat a person alive. Hearing Rebecca scream in terrible pain, Mike wished there was something he could do to at least end her suffering. Sadly there was nothing he could do except look away as a tear began to fall from his eye.

"I'm so sorry Rebecca," he said to himself.

After silently apologizing, Mike resumed climbing the bridge. He played it safe climbing up as he didn’t have the pressure to climb fast anymore. Upon reaching the top, Mike rolled onto his back and laid down while panting and crying. What should have been a simple bridge crossing had turned into something terrible but at last it was over. Still that didn't bring any kind of relief to Mike. Mixed in with the sadness he was feeling about Rebecca's death, Mike was also experiencing a sense of doubt. He made himself return to the mountain to save the trapped rescue workers. Since arriving at the mountain however, he found six of them already dead, two died when he first found the group and now Rebecca was being eaten by Hannah and he couldn't do anything to help her. Mike couldn't help but wonder if maybe the group would have been better off if he hadn't come to help. After all, he couldn't save his friends three weeks ago. Why did he think he could save these people now?

"Wow," said a voice, "the great Michael Munroe once again managed to survive the impossible. Guess we didn't need to find a rope after all."

Mike opened his eyes to see Sam standing over him with the creepy smile he was getting used to seeing. At that moment he wanted to smack it right off Sam's face. He normally wouldn't hit a girl but Sam's persistent joking at the worst possible moments was making his patience reach its breaking point. Sam seemed to sense that was what Mike was thinking and stepped back with her hands up in surrender.

"I know Mike," she said, "I said I wouldn't make anymore jokes. I really am glad that you're alright. You have to admit though, what you just survived was pretty impressive."

"No I don't Sam," Mike scolded, "I don't have to admit anything because I don't care that I survived hanging on the side of a cliff. In case you haven't noticed, Rebecca's dead."

"You don't say. Well I guess you can't win them all."

Sam's last comment caused Mike to jump up on his feet, "SAM! I swear one more insensitive crack out of you and I'll…."

Before Mike could finish his threat, his attention was grabbed by some blood spatters along the edge of the cliff. He figured it was Rebecca's blood from when Norton bit her arm. Norton! Mike glanced around and realized that neither Norton nor the others were with Sam.

"Sam where is everybody else?" he asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Sam replied, "we split up to look for something to help you and Rebecca climb up the cliff. I didn't find anything so I came back to check on you."

"We have to find them fast," Mike said as he pulled out his shotgun.

"Why?"

"It's Norton, he's the one who ate Maureen's arm. He's beginning to turn into a wendigo. We have to find him before he kills the others."

Not waiting for Sam to process what he said, Mike headed off to search for the others. Whatever doubts he had about himself were gone. Regardless of whether he felt the group was better without him, they were in danger and he couldn't just sit around and do nothing. He had made promises to himself, Jessica and Alice that he was going save as many people as he could and bring them home and he was going to do everything he could to keep them.


	10. Transformation

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

A major problem when trying to navigate a mine was that everything almost looked exactly the same. Mike was beginning to feel like he was going in circles as he and Sam frantically searched for the rest of the group. He did know the mine better then most people but the longer it was taking for him and Sam to find the others, the more anxious he got and it was making it harder for him to think straight. If the others still thought Mike was hanging from a cliff with Rebecca, they shouldn't have gone too far in their search for something to help them climb up. So where the heck could they have gone? Adding to Mike's nerves was the fact that among the others was Norton who was in the process of transforming into a wendigo. Based on what Mike saw just before Norton bit Rebecca's arm, there were a few things that might alert the others to what was happening but he couldn't rely on that. He either had to find the others before Norton did or he had to find Norton first and take him out.

"Would you slow down a second Mike?" Sam called from behind him, "I realize we need to find the others but we're not going to if we keep stumbling around like this."

"We can't afford to slow down Sam," Mike replied without turning to face her, "Norton's already got too much of a head start."

Sam sighed, "I can't believe I'm about to say this. Mike we may be in a hurry but we need to be smart too."

That got Mike to stop, "wait, wasn't that what I said when we were debating about crossing through the water to the wendigo den? Are you using my lines now?"

"Don't look too much into it. I was just hoping that using one of your smart lines might get you to start thinking like that again."

"What do you mean?"

"When we first got here, you insisted on us taking things slowly and delicately. I may not have liked doing it that way but I will admit that it was the smart way. Now all of the sudden you're in favor of running into a situation blindly and not thinking things through."

It was Mike's turn to sigh, "so you'd rather we stand here thinking while Norton is probably eating the rest of the group at this very moment? Sorry Sam but I am not going to let anyone else die today. Let's go."

"(CHUCKLE)"

Sam's sudden chuckle surprised Mike. At the same time it made him nervous. Lately the only things that amused Sam were tense or dark situations which Mike didn't think were funny at all. So whatever Sam was currently laughing at was likely going to again be something that Mike didn't find funny. Unfortunately Mike must have been a glutton for punishment because his curiosity made him ask Sam why she was laughing.

"I just find it funny how you apparently haven't changed at all," Sam replied while still chuckling.

"What are you talking about?" Mike asked slightly frustrated with Sam for not getting to the point quickly.

"I thought that you would have learned after what happened three weeks ago that rushing into situations blindly and making hasty decisions was not the best way to go. Don't you remember a certain hasty decision you made when we were in the lodge's basement?"

Mike's face turned red with anger, "Sam…"

"If you want I can remind you what happened."

"SAM! I'm warning you, don't push me!"

At that point Mike was ready to snap at Sam the minute she decided to ignore his warning and continue her thought. To his surprise, she didn't. Instead Sam did something Mike didn't expect. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Mike locked eyes with Sam's and for a moment he thought he saw genuine concern in them.

"Look Mike," Sam said, "believe it or not, I understand what's going through your mind right now. All I'm saying is that you can't let those thoughts affect your judgement. If we're going to find the others quickly, we need to put what happened to our friends, Rebecca and the other rescue workers out of our minds and think rationally. Now I'm not exactly qualified to do that so it's up to you. Just take a breath and try to guess where the others might have gone."

Mike cursed to himself as he sat down. Sam may not have been initially delicate when she was making her point but she made it nonetheless. What he was currently doing was exactly what contributed to Chris, Emily and Ashley's deaths, maybe killed Josh and nearly killed Jessica. He was trying to change how he handled life-or-death situations but he was slipping back into his old hasty ways. Taking Sam's advice, he took a breath and started thinking.

The group was still under the impression that Mike and Rebecca were hanging on the cliff. That meant they would be looking for anything that could be used to rescue them. They wouldn't know exactly where to look and have to stumble around looking until they found something. That's when the idea came to Mike. The group wouldn't know where to look but Mike did because he knew the mine's layout and had a good idea where things would be located. He searched his memory of the different maps he had seen of the mine's layout. Suddenly his eyes lit up.

"I've got it," he said springing to his feet, "it will require a little backtracking but there was a path that leads to some elevators that go up to the surface. That area was also where the miners would clock in to begin their shifts. Some of their supplies could still be there. It would be a good place for the others to look for a rope."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Sam said with another chuckle, "now you're sounding like the Mike that I got into this situation with."

The way Sam phrased her last statement confused Mike, "is that a good or bad thing?"

Sam's creepy smile returned, "I don't know. I guess it depends on if we get out of this situation alive or not. Then again, the uncertainty just makes it more fun. So what do you say Rambo, ready to go rescue the others?"

While Sam began walking away, Mike stood where he was feeling dumbfounded. For a brief moment, it looked like the old Sam was trying to emerge. Maybe she was even trying to give a clue as to what was going on with her. Mike wondered what she meant when she said that she understood what was going through his mind. Unfortunately he didn't have time to figure it out as once again the old Sam vanished as quickly as she emerged and the possibly crazy Sam returned. Still the concern Sam seemed to feel for Mike was the most amount of emotion she had shown in three weeks. Maybe there was still a chance for her after all. Mike proceeded to follow Sam while promising to himself that he would get the old Sam back somehow.

As the duo made their way to the elevator shaft, Mike started thinking about something else. Assuming the elevator still worked, it would indeed take them back up to the surface. Back when the mine was operational, the shaft was used by the miners to send up the resources they mined to be processed. The elevators would allow him to get the rest of the group out of the mine. He was still appreciative of the others for volunteering to help him and Sam find Josh but Rebecca's death was causing him to think bringing them along was a mistake. He decided then and there that he was going to make the others take the elevator out of the mine whether they wanted to or not.

"What are you doing Powell?"

A voice up ahead caused Mike and Sam to freeze. They both recognized the voice as Blake's. Their first thought was that it could be another trap but that seemed unlikely. The previous times Hannah had disguised her voice as part of a trap, she always mimicked someone in distress. Even though Blake wasn't sounding like she was in life-threatening trouble, the tone of her voice indicated that something was wrong and Powell was somehow the cause of it. After agreeing that it wasn't a trap they were walking into, Mike and Sam continued moving while trying to listen to what was going on.

Powell was the next one to speak, "Blake this elevator shaft still has power. I think we can use it to get out of here."

"Powell we need to find something to help Michael and Rebecca. They can't hang on the side of that cliff forever."

"They're likely dead already Blake. I told you all that searching for the Washington kid was a bad idea. We should have just made Michael get us out of here when we had a chance. Maybe Rebecca would still be alive if we had."

By that point, Mike and Sam now had a visual on Blake and Powell but were still hidden from their view. They also saw that Tyler was with them too. Mike breathed a sigh of relief since this confirmed that he was right about Tyler making it off the bridge before it collapsed. He was about to call out to the trio but was shushed by Sam. She tapped her ear to indicate that she wanted to listen to the conversation a little longer. Though Mike had a feeling that it was a bad idea, he nodded and joined Sam behind some cover.

"Rebecca knew what she was getting into when she decided to stay Detective," Tyler said joining the conversation, "as did the rest of us."

"That doesn't matter," Powell replied, "as an officer of the law, it's my job is to keep other people safe and letting you all stay down here was not in line with my job. With Michael dead, Blake and I are taking back leadership of this group and we are leaving."

Normally Mike would be mad at Powell for assuming that he had died but he was currently finding himself happy with what Powell was saying. Powell was giving Mike a way out of having to be the bad guy and turning down the others' help. If Powell got the others out of the mine then Mike and Sam could just focus on looking for Josh. Mike silently pleaded that no one would try to challenge Powell again.

"Powell…," Blake started to say.

"This isn't up for discussion Blake. Let's go get Richter, Norton and Alice and get out of this hellhole."

"What about Sam?" asked Tyler.

"What about that bitch?"

If it wasn't for the fact that Blake had gasped in shock, Mike's own gasp would have been heard by the others. Listening to the conversation up to that point had proven to actually be beneficial but now Mike remembered why he originally thought that it was a bad idea. He looked at Sam to see how she'd react. He was expecting to see a similar reaction to when they were listening to rescue workers outside talking about Josh. To his surprise, Sam was actually looking amused by the conversation. Before Mike could ask Sam what she was thinking, Blake spoke again.

"Powell you are not suggesting that we leave her?"

"Well you can't be suggesting that we bring her with us. Do you realize what will happen if we tell her that we're not going to help look for her boyfriend anymore? Without Michael to keep her under control she will kill us one by one unless we agree to help. We all know she's insane enough to do it."

"Am I?"

Apparently having decided she had heard enough, Sam made her and Mike's location known to the trio by speaking. She stepped out from her hiding place and moved towards them. As she did, she also pulled out the flare gun but kept it hidden behind her back. The trio didn’t notice Sam drawing the flare gun but it didn’t escape Mike’s attention.

When he saw the flare gun, Mike wanted to say something to stop Sam but didn't. There was no doubt that the trio figured out Sam was listening to their conversation. The only reason they hadn't drawn their weapons yet was probably because they were surprised to see Mike with her. If Mike alerted them to what Sam was doing, they might snap out of it and shoot her. He subtly rolled his eyes when he realized he was going to have to take Sam's advice again. Instead of making a hasty decision, he was going to wait, see what happened next and then make a decision on how to handle the situation.

Nothing much happened after Sam first revealed herself to the trio. She just continued to approach them while they remained frozen with indecision. Mike was a few steps behind Sam but didn't dare get too close. He also was trying hard to keep himself from looking at the flare gun behind Sam's back and risk alerting the others. Though he couldn't see Sam's face, Mike noticed that she was using her free hand to rub her chin like she was intensely thinking. Given her mental state, Mike wasn't sure he wanted to know what she was thinking about. He found out anyway when Sam finally spoke again.

"Am I really insane enough to kill you all if you didn't want to help me find Josh? Hmm….I don't know. I suppose it is possible."

As she said her last statement, Sam brought the flare gun out from behind her back and held at her side. The site of the gun made the other's flinch. Powell looked like he was ready to draw his gun but was stopped when Blake shook her head. She then held up her hands slowly and stepped forward.

"Sam," she said, "take it easy. Detective Powell didn't mean…."

"I guess we'll never know though," Sam interrupted, "seeing as how Mike is still here to keep me 'under control'. Right, Mike?"

Sam had then turned to face Mike and held out the flare gun like she wanted him to take it. All eyes were now on Mike. Initially Mike didn't understand what had just happened. Was Sam just putting on a show or was she really trying to warn the others not to mess with her if he wasn't around? Of course nothing Sam had been doing lately made sense. With no time for Mike to figure out the reason for Sam's actions, he could only focus on figuring out a response that would help defuse the situation. He reached out his hand but instead of taking the flare gun, he pushed it and Sam's hand away.

"Keep it Sam," he said, "as far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be kept under control."

The others were surprised by what Mike said. Sam on the other hand seemed amused and smiled as she holstered the flare gun. As for Mike, he was just silently hoping that he had made the right decision. Once the other's snapped out of the shock of Mike's decision, Powell looked like he was ready to protest against it. Mike cut him off by raising his hand and threw Powell a mean look. In a stern tone, Mike gave a warning of his own.

"And NO ONE is going to leave her behind. Got it?"

Mike knew the warning was necessary but he knew that was not going to be well received by everyone. Powell was looking like he was ready to charge again. Whether he was going to charge Sam or Mike, no one would know because Blake managed to get in front of him. While she tried to calm Powell down, Tyler seemed to realize that something else was amiss.

"Michael," he said, "where's Rebecca?"

Mike bowed his head, "she's dead."

The news of Rebecca's death caused Powell to calm down as he and Blake shared a sad look with each other.

"Was it that monster?" Tyler asked tensely.

"Yes…and no."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"We don't have time for me to explain it. Where's Alice and Richter?"

"They're a little ways ahead," Blake replied, "we were just about to go get them and Norton when…"

"Norton's with them?!" Mike interrupted, "come on, we need to find them fast!"

"Why?" Powell asked, "what's going on?"

"AAAAAAHH!"

The conversation was interrupted by a scream coming from up ahead. Mike instantly recognized the voice belonged to Alice. Normally he would have taken a moment to question if it was really her screaming but it seemed unlikely to be anyone else. He had last left Hannah at the cliff which was in the opposite direction and there was no way Norton would have been able to reach the point in his transformation that he could start mimicking voices. While everyone else was still processing what they had heard, Mike took off in the direction the scream came from. As he ran, he pulled out his shotgun and checked to make sure it was loaded. The sound of footsteps behind him indicated that the others were following right behind him.

"AAAAAAHH!"

Another scream from Alice was heard and Mike was reaching the peak of his running speed. He kept repeating to himself that he hoped Alice and Richter would still be alright when he found them. He couldn't lose another person. Not just after losing Rebecca. He had promised Alice that he would do whatever he could to ensure she didn't regret staying to help find Josh and he intended to keep it. After what felt like several minutes, Mike and the others had finally reached Alice's location. Mike raised his shotgun and was about to fire when he froze.

In one corner, Richter was lying on the ground unconscious. The rock he was lying on suggested that he must have fallen and hit his head. There didn't appear to be any blood around his head so it wasn't cut open. With no other visible injuries, Mike figured Richter would wake up with a nasty bump and a headache but otherwise he would be fine.

The real problem though was in the other corner. Alice was pinned down by the partially transformed Norton who was trying to take bites out of her. Noticing Mike out of the corner of her eye, Alice pleaded for him to get Norton off of her. Mike's finger wanted to pull the trigger and put Norton down but he knew that the shot would kill Alice too. Sam seemed to realize what Mike was thinking and started to aim her flare gun. Before she could fire it, Mike pushed her arms down. The likelihood that Sam could miss and hit Alice made the flare gun too risky. Mike was about to think of another plan when he was distracted by the sound of Alice sobbing. When he looked at her tear filled face, he froze again.

Before Mike's eyes, Alice's face seemed to change so that he was now looking at a sobbing Ashley. It made him think back to when he found her sobbing by the lodge's back door and seeing Chris' severed head on the other side. The flashback brought back the two emotions Mike felt in that moment. First was the shock of seeing Chris' head. The second, and probably the one that stuck with him the most, was the heartache of seeing Ashley on her knees weeping for the boy she loved.

"No," Mike thought to himself as he snapped himself back to the present, "don't think about that now Mike. Alice needs your help."

When Mike recovered, he figured that there was only one way to help Alice. It was an insane idea and Mike silently wished there could have been another option. He took one last deep breath, holstered his shotgun and charged. Like a rusher in a football game, Mike tackled Norton knocking him off of Alice and onto the ground. While Mike tried to keep Norton pinned down, Alice used the opportunity to get away and join the others who were watching in shock at what Mike was doing. Even Mike couldn't believe that he had found himself wrestling with a wendigo.

Norton was smaller than Mike when it came to mass but he was somehow making it hard for Mike to keep him pinned down. Mike figured that even though Norton may not have been fully transformed, he now had enough wendigo strength to put up a fight. The real difficulty with keeping Norton pinned down was that Norton was constantly trying to bite Mike's face, forcing him to loosen his hold in to order to back away. During one moment where Mike was not putting as much pressure on Norton, he managed to reverse the situation so that it was now Mike being pinned down. In a desperate move, Mike poked Norton's eyes causing Norton to scream in pain. The brief distraction was enough to allow Mike to follow up with a punch that knocked Norton right off of him. Mike quickly got to his feet and tried to pull out his shotgun. He managed to get it off his shoulder but before he could aim it, Norton smacked the gun out of his hands.

"Grrrhh," Mike groaned.

The blow to Mike's hands hurt more than he expected. A quick glance at his right hand revealed why. On the back of it were fresh scratches. Mike didn't remember Norton having long fingernails so he figured that Norton was starting to get wendigo claws. Now without a weapon to defend himself, Mike carefully tried to back away from Norton. Unfortunately he didn't get far as he tripped over the unconscious Richter and fell to the ground. He tried to get back up but it was no use. Norton was now hunched down and screeched as he prepared to pounce on Mike.

"Aarrrgghhh!"

Before Norton could attack, Powell and Tyler had appeared and tackled him. Being slightly bigger than both Mike and Norton and having a two to one advantage, the pair had an easier time keeping Norton pinned down. Every time Norton tried to make a move to knock one of the men off, the other would be there to stop him. After the initial shock of seeing Powell and Tyler save his life, Mike got to his feet, picked up his shotgun and aimed it in Norton's direction. He shouted for the men to get out of the way. They both nodded to indicate they understood Before moving, they simultaneously threw a hard punch to Norton's head. If any normal person had found themselves struck by the combined blow of the men's punches, they would have been knocked out cold, if not killed outright. In Norton's case, it stunned him long enough for the men to move away. Before Norton could recover, Mike moved in closer. He put the gun right up by Norton's head and turned away as he pulled the trigger. Blood exploded everywhere with several drops hitting Mike. While he didn't want to see the result of the shot, he had to be sure it did the job. He opened his eyes and slowly looked towards the ground. Based on the mess that he saw, there was no doubt about it. Norton was dead.

The reactions from the others over what happened varied. Alice was so disgusted that she began to throw up. Blake was mildly distraught but she shook it off and started tending to Alice. Tyler and Powell had just gotten back on their feet and were panting heavily due to their struggle with Norton. When they saw the mess, they were both mildly disgusted as well but quickly became more concerned with cleaning off as much of the blood that had splattered on them as possible. Only Sam didn't seem negatively impacted by the aftermath of the struggle though Mike was at least grateful she just seemed indifferent rather than amused. It was then Mike saw she still had her flare gun out. Looking down at Norton's body, a grim but necessary thought came to him.

"We should probably play it safe Sam," he said while pointing at the flare gun.

Sam nodded to indicate she understood. She approached Norton's body, aimed the flare gun and fired. It didn't take long for the flare to set Norton completely ablaze. Thankfully Norton didn't briefly come back to life and scream as the fire consumed him. The sight was sad and disturbing enough without that being added to the mix.

"(GROAN)"

Everyone looked towards the source of the new sound they heard to see that Richter was slowly beginning to regain consciousness. Mike was the first one by his side with the others right behind him. He was about to examine the bump on Richter's head when Richter suddenly became wide awake and jumped to his feet. Richter then raised his arms like he was ready to for a fight and began to look around for something.

"Alice!" he shouted. "Where are you?!"

"It's okay Richter," Alice said as she carefully took Richter's hand. "I'm right here. We're safe now."

Hearing Alice's voice seemed to calm Richter down, "Norton, did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. Mike and the others found us before he could. Though I would have already been dead at that point if you hadn't pushed me out of the way when Norton tried to bite me the first time. Thank you."

To further show her appreciation, Alice hugged Richter. The hug initially surprised Richter but he soon smiled and hugged Alice back.

"You're welcome kid," he said when the hug broke, "and thank you everyone for saving both of us."

"I just can't believe Norton would attack us," said Alice.

"He attacked you because he was tuning into a wendigo," Mike said causing everyone except Sam to look at him confused.

"What?" said Blake. "But how?"

Mike turned to face Tyler, "Tyler, was it Norton who told you that your wife was killed?"

"Y…yes it was," Tyler replied, "we got separated during one of the monster's attacks and she ended up with him. When we found Norton again, he said that the monster had killed Mo."

"Well he was right about that but there was something he didn't tell you. When Sam and I found Maureen's body, I noticed a bite on her arm that was not made by a wendigo. I now believe that Norton was the one who bit her. From there it was only a matter of time before the transformation began. He came back to check on Rebecca and me when we were hanging on the cliff. When Rebecca asked for him to pull her up, that was when he started to turn and he bit her arm causing her to fall. She survived the fall but Hannah climbed down after her and…well you can probably guess what happened next."

"That's horrible," Alice said.

"It was. It also made me realize that I've made a terrible mistake. I never should have let you guys come with us to look for Josh. I know that you guys volunteered to help but Rebecca's death and what happened with Norton have changed things. We passed an elevator that can be used to get to the surface. Sam and I are going to find Josh but you all are going to get on that elevator and get the hell out of here. Detectives, will you make sure everyone gets out alright?"

Blake seemed hesitant to leave but Powell grinned as he began walking towards the direction of the elevator, "well I'm glad you finally came to your senses Michael. You heard him everyone, let's go!"

To Mike's disappointment, no one else moved to follow Powell. Powell turned around to tell everyone to follow him again but to no avail. Mike rolled his eyes in frustration as he started to try and get everyone moving. Before he could say a word though, he froze. Something was wrong. As he glanced at the others' faces, he noticed that they weren't expressing indecision over whether or not to follow Powell. Rather their faces were conveying horror. This didn't go unnoticed by Powell.

"What's wrong with you guys?" he asked as he stepped towards the group.

Suddenly Blake pulled out her gun and pointed it at Powell, "STAY BACK!"

Mike and Powell jumped when they saw the gun. Alice, Richter and Tyler all moved so that they were behind Blake. From Mike's perspective, it almost seemed like they were cowering behind her. As for Sam, she was once again appearing unaffected by what was happening. At least she was until her creepy smile emerged again indicating something was amusing her. Using their special silent communication, Mike asked her what was going on. Sam merely looked back at Powell. Looking in Powell's direction, Mike's eyes widened when he saw what was getting everyone excited. On Powell's right forearm….was a bite mark.


	11. Breakthrough

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

"I SAID STAY BACK POWELL!" Blake ordered.

Powell had attempted to take another step towards the group but jumped back upon hearing Blake's order. A look of confusion was on his face as he still didn't seem to understand why everyone except Mike and Sam seemed to be afraid of him and why his partner was now pointing a gun at him. Sam just continued watching the standstill with her familiar creepy smile. As for Mike, he didn't know what to do. There was no doubt that the mark on Powell's arm was a bite made by Norton. It didn't look too bad and basic first aid from Richter would ensure it didn't get infected. But it was the fact the bite was made by Norton who was transforming into a wendigo at the time that was making the others nervous.

"Blake what are you…?" Powell asked as he slowly raised his arms only to finally notice the bite. "Oh sh…Blake no! It's nothing, I swear!"

"Nothing!" Alice shouted from behind Blake. "Norton bit you! Don't you know what that means?!"

"It just means I've got a nasty wound on my arm and I should probably let Richter take a look at it."

Richter shook his head, "forget it, I'm not getting anywhere near you."

"But Richter," Mike said, "you need to. The wound might get infected if it's not taken care of."

"It's already infected Michael," Tyler said.

"No Tyler, it's just a bite. Powell will be fine once Richter's checked it out."

"You hear that Blake?" Powell said, "Michael says it's nothing. You said it yourself that he knows more about this stuff than we do."

Blake's hands were now beginning to shake, "everyone shut up for a minute! Let me think!"

Mike carefully took a step towards Blake, "Detective put the gun down, please. I'm telling you that nothing is going to happen because Norton bit Detective Powell."

"Are you sure about that Mike?" asked Sam.

Mike looked at Sam in shock, "what? Sam you know there's nothing…"

"What do I know? You didn't listen to me the last time we were in a situation like this."

"SAM!"

"QUIET!" Blake shouted silencing Mike and Sam. "Believe me Powell, I don't want to do this but…if Norton bit you…. _you could turn into one those things_."

Blake's last statement caused Mike to freeze. For a second he thought heard Blake speaking in his voice. Not only that but she even used words that he himself used just three weeks ago. The place even seemed to change around him so that it looked like the lodge's basement. He shook his head in an attempt to bring himself back to reality. This proved futile as Sam spoke next.

"That's a valid concern Detective. Besides don't forget what Mike said when he was telling you guys how wendigos are created. _He said it was from EATING each other - remember he said it!_ "

Mike would have snapped at Sam for encouraging Blake to kill Powell but he was thrown off when she suddenly started sounding like Ashley. Mike was beginning to sweat. Right before his eyes, the incident in the basement was happening all over again. He frantically shook his head again but then Powell spoke in what he heard as Emily's voice.

_"You're going to shoot me? Me?"_

"No," Mike softly said, "not again."

"I have no choice Powell." Blake said, " _you're putting us ALL in danger_."

More of Mike's own words were used again by Blake. Each word felt like a sharp blow striking Mike's head. Mike grabbed his head to try and ease the pain but it was no use. With a near perfect reenactment of the events in the lodge's basement going on in front of him, it brought back all the pain and guilt he felt after he killed Emily. Besides leaving Josh behind, killing Emily was the moment that ate at him the most. Even if he did find Josh alive to atone for the former, the latter was something he could never take back. True he thought that coming back to the mountain to help the rescue workers would give him the chance to do some good. But now he was beginning to feel there was no hope of ever getting rid of the guilt he felt about what happened to Emily. His thoughts were interrupted when he managed to fight through the pain to see that Blake was beginning to pull the trigger.

"NOOOOO!"

(BANG!)

A shot was fired but Powell was unhurt. Before Blake finished pulling the trigger, Mike managed to lunge for the gun and push it to the side. After the initial surprise of Mike's interference, Blake gripped the gun harder anticipating that Mike was going to try and disarm her. That wasn't what Mike did however. Instead he dropped to his knees and moved Blake's gun so that it was pressed right up to his forehead. It was then Blake saw that Mike was crying. This didn't go unnoticed by everyone else in the group who were surprised to see the one guy who always seemed to keep a cool head suddenly break down. Blake tried to move the gun away from Mike's head but Mike held it firmly in place.

"Let go Michael," she said.

Mike didn't move or say anything in response to Blake's request. The others in the group shared nervous glances while silently wondering what Mike was doing. Blake told Mike to let go of the gun one more time but Mike just continued to cry while keeping the gun pointed at his head. Nobody dared to move a muscle. The tension was so thick a person could cut it with knife.

"Please Michael," Blake pleaded, "I don't want to kill you."

"Go ahead," Mike sobbed, "at least I would deserve it, unlike Detective Powell."

Alice gasped, "what are you talking about Mike?"

"The mistake you're all about to make is exactly the same one I did with Emily."

Blake looked at Mike confused, "I don't understand. When I interviewed you three weeks ago, you said that Emily was infected and that you had to stop her from changing."

Mike shook his head, "that's what I thought would happen at the time. It was only after I killed her that Sam and Ashley found out wendigo bites weren't infectious. (sob) I…I killed Emily for nothing. I haven't had a good nights sleep since that night because I keep reliving the decisions I made that got my friends killed in my nightmares. Every time I wake up, I ask myself why I'm still alive and they're not. When I heard that you guys were in trouble up here, I thought that I was being given a chance to make up for what happened that night. But who was I kidding. People are still dying because of decisions I've made. I don't…I don't deserve to live if all I do is get people killed. So go ahead Detective Blake, pull the trigger."

While Mike continued sobbing, Blake looked to the others for help. With the exception of Sam, everyone else had their heads bowed in sadness. Then Richter looked up to Blake and shook his head. Alice and Tyler followed suit. After looking at Powell one more time, who was still looking at her with pleading eyes, Blake sighed and let go of her gun. Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief when she did. The biggest sigh came from Powell who was about ready to collapse. The sighs caused Mike to open his eyes and look at Blake with confusion. Blake then knelt down so that she was eye level with Mike and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Listen to me Michael," she said, "I understand how you feel. Being a cop, I've had to make a lot of life and death decisions. Unfortunately not all of them worked out how I wanted and people died. The thing is you can't let those moments define you. Even if you've made some mistakes, you've done some good too. You saved Alice when Norton attacked her and just now you stopped me from unnecessarily killing my partner. You're a good kid Michael and you care about the well being of others. A person like you doesn't deserve to die. Now how about you help us get out of here."

Looking behind Blake, Mike saw the others smile at him. As Blake's words went through his mind, he realized she was right. What happened to Emily was terrible and it was okay if he always had regrets about it but it didn't have to be his defining moment. He could still do some good with his life and rescuing these people and Josh could be the start. Mike stood up with Blake and held out her gun for her to take back. He then walked with her over to Powell who was still recovering from nearly being shot.

"It's okay Detective," Mike said, "it's over."

"Powell," Blake said, "I know nothing I say can excuse what I did and I wouldn't blame you for not forgiving me but I really am sorry. If we get out of here and you don't want to be partners anymore, I'll understand."

Blake turned to walk away but was stopped when Powell held her back, "Blake, don't beat yourself up over it. If the roles were reversed, I'd probably have done the same thing. The important thing is that you stopped yourself before it was too late. When we get out of here, I'd rather we just put everything that's happened here behind us. What do you say…partner?"

Powell held out his hand as he finished speaking. The gesture was a great relief for Blake who happily shook Powell's hand. The group was then pleasantly surprised when Powell pulled Blake in for a hug. Seeing the two partners reconcile did bring some happiness to the group…but alas it didn't last long.

Mike was so focused on the happiness surrounding the reconciliation that he almost didn't notice that Powell's attention was now on Sam. When Powell saw her, his face became the familiar shade of red that Mike had gotten used to seeing. The same was true with Sam who appeared to be unfazed by Powell's angry stare. When the others noticed it as well, they held their breaths as they waited for the seemingly inevitable charge Powell was going to make. Even Blake didn't seem to be willing to stop Powell this time. Powell's charge was only stopped by Mike stepping in his way. Unlike the last time Mike stood between Powell and Sam, he didn't pull out his shotgun but that was because he knew he wouldn't need it. Powell was about to order Mike to move aside but stopped when Mike held up a hand to silence him. Mike then gestured for Powell to come closer so that he could whisper something. When Powell listened to what Mike said, his facial color returned to normal and his eyes looked at Mike with confusion. Mike merely responded by nodding his head to indicate that he meant what he said. With nothing else to say, Powell turned to head back towards the others.

"Sam," Mike said when Powell had walked away, "can I talk to you for a minute…alone?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Mike but shrugged her shoulders and gestured for Mike to lead the way. Mike proceeded to lead them down a passageway that would take them back to the elevators where they had originally found Blake, Powell and Tyler. Once they had vanished from view, Powell instructed the rest of the group to gather around. He was waiting for everyone else to get in a circle before he started speaking but Richter beat him to it.

"What's going on Detective?" he asked. "What did Michael say to you?"

Powell sighed, "he said that he was going to have a word with Sam about what just happened and that he wanted me to talk with you guys about what our next step is going to be while we wait for them to come back."

"What else did he say?" Blake asked nervously. "I saw the way you looked at him and he said something that surprised you. What was it?"

"Well," Powell said as he looked towards the direction Mike and Sam left, "he told me that we are not to interrupt his conversation with Sam….no matter what sounds we might hear coming from that direction."

* * *

"I have to say that was some show you put on back there Mike," Sam chuckled.

Mike didn't respond to Sam's comment. His focus was solely on the elevator shaft they were approaching. He also tried to keep a step ahead of Sam as they walked so that she couldn't see the anger on his face at that moment. There was no point in tipping her off to what they were going to talk about until they were at the elevator shaft. Though he wasn't sure he would make it to the elevator shaft because Sam was still testing his patience by continuing to talk.

"You actually came pretty close to topping my jumping up and down on the bridge in terms of craziness. I also don't know if I've ever seen you cry like that before. Nice to know the great Michael Munroe is not just another tough guy who hides his emotions."

If Sam had been paying attention to Mike's hands, she would have seen that they were clenching into fists. She also didn't seem to be noticing that Mike's breathing was getting heavier. Instead the only thing she was noticing was that he wasn't talking to her. Of course she decided that meant she could keep talking.

"So are you going to tell me what you wanted to talk about? Mike? (chuckle) Oh wait, I get it. You wanted to get me somewhere alone so that we could…you know. I'm flattered. Just give me a minute to…"

(SMACK)

Thankfully for Mike, they had reached the elevator shaft. He turned around and threw a hard slap right across Sam's face. Sam reached up to rub her cheek but didn't seem to be the least bit surprised by what happened. Instead, to Mike's frustration, she was silent for only a second before she started laughing.

"Oooh so you're the kind of guy who likes it rough. Okay, I'm game."

(SMACK)

Mike slapped Sam again. She just laughed it off like she did the first one. Mike didn't know what was worse, the fact that he was slapping Sam or the fact that Sam was so far out of it that she was finding humor in it. Still he had to do something. He couldn't just ignore Sam's mental state anymore. It was time for him to confront it head on and try to see if he could get the old Sam back. The first thing he was going to try to do was see if he could get her to explain what happened during the standoff.

"Sam," he said tensely, "what the hell were you doing back there? You know as well as I do that the wendigo bites aren't infectious. So why did you try and talk Detective Blake into killing Detective Powell?!"

Sam started rubbing her chin pretending to think, "hmm…I don't really know. It just seemed like a good idea at the time."

(SMACK)

"Bullshit!" Mike said, "Look Sam, I don't care how mentally damaged you probably are. There's a reason you wanted her to pull the trigger and I want to know what it was."

"(chuckle) I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sam!"

"Come on Mike, we're wasting time. Let's go back to the others."

Something was different with Sam's last comment. It was subtle but Mike could detect a hint of fear in Sam's voice. Since arriving at the mountain, Mike couldn't remember anytime where Sam seemed nervous, let alone afraid of anything. He also remembered how she was unusually calm during each of their encounters with wendigos. Yet there was something about the conversation they were having that made her nervous and want to drop the subject. Sensing an opening, Mike kept pushing.

"Is it because Detective Powell has had it out for you ever since we first found everyone?" he asked.

"N…no," Sam stuttered, "I…I mean yes. Yes that's exactly it. Ding, ding, ding we have a winner! You figured it out Mike! Bravo! Can we go now?"

Sam turned to leave but was stopped when Mike grabbed her arm, "you're lying Sam. As much as that would be the easy answer, there's more to it than that. Why didn't you help me talk Detective Blake down?"

Silence. That was the only response Mike got from Sam. Up until that point he had thought it would take taping Sam's mouth shut to get her to be quiet but now her lips were sealed. There was even a tear starting to appear in her eye. Mike felt like he was getting close to figuring out what was going on Sam's head but he didn't know what to say next. He was afraid if he pushed her anymore she might withdraw completely. The only thing he could think of was changing gears and trying a gentler approach.

"Look Sam," he said, "I just don't understand why after that pep talk you gave me about helping the others that you would suddenly turn around and be wiling to let someone die."

More silence.

"Okay, fine. If you're not going to talk to me, I won't push anymore. We'll go back to the others but I want to be clear about one thing. I meant everything I said when I held Detective Blake's gun to my head. I can't bear to see anymore of the people I'm trying to protect die because of my bad decisions. All I ask is that you don't make my decision to trust you one of the bad ones. Now come on, the others are waiting for us."

With nothing more to say, Mike began walking back the way they came. He didn't get far when he noticed that Sam didn't move an inch to follow him. When he called for her to come with him, she continued to remain still. From where Mike was standing, he could only see the back of her head so he couldn't get a read on what she was thinking. He doubted it was cold enough in the mine that Sam could be frozen solid. Against his better judgement, he carefully reached to tap Sam on the shoulder.

"At least you tried."

Mike stopped short of Sam's shoulder when he heard her speak, "what?"

Sam slowly turned around to face Mike and it was then the tears were visible. Not just one tear like what Mike saw back at her house. These were almost waterfalls flowing from her eyes. There was no way Sam was merely faking sadness. Besides when she gave him the pep talk, this was the most emotion Sam had shown Mike in three weeks.

"At least you tried to help them," Sam said, "do you really think you're the only one who feels guilty about that night? You keep talking about how you want to make up for the stuff you did that got our friends killed but you can't see that you at least tried to save them. What did I do? NOTHING! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP OUR FRIENDS! I didn't stop you from sending Josh out to the shed which led to Chris getting killed and I didn't even try to stop you from killing Emily like you did for Detective Powell."

"But Sam," Mike said, "I was the one who made those decisions. Their deaths are on me."

"That's what I kept trying to tell myself…but what about Ashley? You weren't there when she died so you can't blame yourself for that. The thing is…(sob)…I wasn't there either. We were coming to warn you about the wendigos in the sanatorium and we climbed down this hatch to enter a tunnel to take us there. Ashley thought it would be a good idea to close the hatch in case something was following us. I was in such a hurry to find you that I brushed her off by telling her to close it and catch up with me as soon as she could. Don't you see Mike…I LEFT HER! And worst of all I didn't even try to look for her when I noticed she never caught up with me! I just assumed she went back to the house. When we found her head in that cage hanging in the wendigo den…(sob)…I LEFT HER ALONE MIKE AND SHE ENDED UP DEAD! AND I DID THE SAME THING WITH JOSH! You told me there was no way Josh would be able to climb out of the wendigo den. I should have stayed and went out with you guys the way we came but for some stupid reason I was in a hurry to get back to the lodge so I climbed up the wall anyway. Maybe if I had been there, you and I could have saved him together. Why did I do that Mike? I left the brother of my best friend and…(sob)…and the boy I loved behind. Who am I kidding? I even left my best friend behind too. When Hannah ran out of the lodge last year, you wanted to go after her but I stopped any of us from following her and Beth. If you ask me Mike, you have no reason to feel guilty when you consider the stuff I've done…or rather DIDN'T do. When we were rescued from here three weeks ago, I was filled with so much guilt that it hurt. I just couldn't take the pain anymore so I started thinking to myself that nothing I did would have made a difference. No matter what, everyone will die eventually so there's no point in trying to prevent it."

Mike's eyes widened when a realization hit him, "so you weren't trying to get Detective Powell killed. You just didn't care what happened to him one way or the other."

Sam nodded, "yeah. The way I saw it, if I didn't care about what happened to people and just let them die, then I don't have to feel guilty for not doing anything to save them. If I didn't have anything to feel guilty about, then maybe the pain would go away and never come back. It seemed to be working too…(sob)…until now. Now that you've forced me to think about stuff I locked away three weeks ago. So I hope you're happy Mike! THANKS FOR MAKING ME REALIZE I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON!"

Suddenly Sam dropped to her knees and cried. Initially Mike couldn't do anything but look on in sadness. He had finally found out what brought about the change in Sam's mental state but it was not what he expected. It turned out that both he and Sam had been dealing with guilt following that night. Their reasons for feeling guilty were different but it was a similar type of guilt they were feeling. Another difference between them was how they handled their guilt. While Mike had decided to accept the guilt and let it eat away at him, Sam had chosen to lock her guilt away to avoid the pain it brought. Even though it meant locking away all of her other feelings as well. But now that Mike had brought all those feelings back, the bottled up guilt was hitting her full force. Mike was glad that the mystery was solved. However he felt bad that he had to push Sam into her current state to solve it.

When Mike felt that he had given Sam enough time to grieve, he knelt down and hugged her. To his surprise, Sam hugged him back and so hard he'd have thought she hadn't been hugged by someone in a while. It then dawned on him that maybe she hadn't. If she had been keeping her distance from people, she would have avoided any attempts they might have made to comfort her. Now that she was being hit by the guilt again, Mike's hug might have been the reassuring gesture she desperately needed.

"It's okay Sam," Mike said as he began patting Sam on the back, "it's okay."

"No it's not," Sam sobbed while shaking her head, "I just said that I'm a horrible person and now I feel so bad about it that it hurts."

Mike broke the hug and locked eyes with Sam, "you are not a horrible person. If you were, you wouldn't be feeing anything at all. I don't blame you for wanting to bury all that guilt. There were times I wish I could do that myself. Unfortunately it will always be there and, as you've just learned, all it takes is one chink in the dam to make it all come pouring out."

"(sob)…I just want the pain to go away."

Mike sighed, "I wish I could say it will Sam but I can't. Even after the pep talk from Detective Blake, my guilt is still there. I think the best we can do is lessen the pain by always remembering our friends and trying to do better for them. That's one of the reasons I came back here. I wanted to do for the rescue workers what I failed to do for our friends and you can do the same. Also don't forget, Josh could still be alive up here too."

"Oh Mike…(sob)….I don't think I can face him after what I did to him."

"Sam, the important thing is that you are here to help him now. When we find him and you tell him that you love him, everything will work out fine."

What happened next was what Mike could only describe as a miracle. Sam smiled at him. It wasn't the creepy smile that she had been sporting since Mike saw her at the police station either. It was a genuine happy smile. Mike couldn't help but smile back. The old Sam was back and this time for good. Sam hugged Mike again while whispering "thank you".

"AAAHHHHHH!"

The happy moment was interrupted by a scream that Mike and Sam instantly recognized as coming from Alice. Mike looked to Sam to see if she was ready to come with him. She gave him an answer by checking to make sure there was a fresh flare in the flare gun and nodding. Mike followed suit by putting fresh rounds in his shotgun. Armed and ready, Mike and Sam ran to investigate the scream.

* * *

Upon reaching the spot they left the others, Mike and Sam raised their weapons ready to shoot. However there wasn't anything to shoot. Alice was crying while Blake and Richter were trying to comfort her but everyone else was fine and there didn't appear to any immediate danger. Once they lowered their weapons, Tyler and Powell pulled them aside.

"Well?" Powell asked regarding Mike's talk with Sam.

"She's fine Detective," Mike replied, "I'll explain later but right now I want to know why Alice screamed."

Tyler answered Mike's question by pointing further down the path, "she went down there to use the bathroom and she tripped over something. It turned out to be a human head. Looks like it's been down here a while."

"Was is a girl?" Sam asked.

Powell rolled his eyes in frustration, "I thought you said she was fine Michael. Alice has been traumatized and all she wants to know is if the head was a girl. What kind of question is that?"

Though Mike knew he should probably scold Sam for her question, he didn't want to ruin the progress he had made with her. Still he had to admit that the question seemed to be inappropriate. But then Sam looked at him and used their special silent communication to indicate that it was urgent she get an answer to her question. He looked at her with confusion because he couldn't see why that was. Sam just continued looking at him with urgency. Suddenly the significance of Sam's question hit Mike.

"It might have been Beth's head," he said.

"Hannah's twin?" Tyler asked.

"Yes," Sam replied, "Mike you remember what Emily said when she came back to the lodge? She found Beth's head near the spot where she and Hannah fell into the mines last year."

"That's right," Mike said continuing Sam's thought, "and that place would mean something to Hannah. If she was looking for a new den, I'll bet that's the place she'd pick to have it. We go there…"

"We find Josh." Sam finished.

The mere mention of Josh's name got everyone quiet, including Alice. All eyes turned to Mike in anticipation of his next order. Unfortunately Mike didn't know what it should be. He still wanted to get everyone out of the mine right then and there but now they were so close to finding Josh. There was no telling how much time Josh had left. Could they really afford to let him wait longer? Once again Mike needed to make a life-or-death decision and it was one where he didn’t like any of the options. Blake sensed Mike's hesitation and looked to Powell who nodded before turning to Mike.

"Look Michael," he said, "we were actually talking while you were with Sam and we've decided we still want to help you find Josh. We know you want to get us out of here and I was all for it myself but we don't want to leave until everyone, including Josh is accounted for. This is our decision Michael. Whatever happens, it won't be on you."

The others nodded to show they agreed with Powell. Mike sighed but then a smile slowly appeared. As much as he still didn't like bringing the others along, their support made the decision to let them help get a little bit easier. After doing a check to make sure everyone still had their makeshift flamethrowers, the group headed out.

It was a slow trip towards the new den but not because of distance. The group had to move slowly to ensure they didn't get ambushed by Hannah. She may have last been seen at the bridge but she could have easily gotten ahead of them by taking a different route they weren't aware of. They also briefly stopped when they came across the head Alice found. Mike and Sam were able to confirm that it was Beth's despite the shape it was in. A little further, they stopped again because of something they heard. It sound like…a voice. As they got closer, they began to understand what it was saying.

"No…no no….I don't!…YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"


	12. Josh

 [](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

There was no doubt about it, the voice the group had just heard belonged to Josh. The majority of the group began to move towards the voice but were stopped by Mike and Sam. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, Mike and Sam each put a finger to their mouths to tell the others to be quiet. For the next few seconds, the only movement among the group was in Mike and Sam's eyes as they alternated between looking towards where the voice came from and at each other. Using their special silent communication, they tried to determine if it really was Josh's voice they were hearing. They both really wanted it to be but that would mean he really had survived being down in the mine for three weeks. If that was the case, they didn't want to even think about the state he was in. In a small way, they wanted the voice to be Hannah trying to trick them again.

"I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU…(cough, cough)…okay….okay….I trust you….I trust (cough, cough)."

Mike and Sam's eyes widened. That time the voice coughed. Hannah may be able to mimic voices but it seemed highly unlikely that she would mimic a cough. So if it wasn't Hannah, it had to be…

"Josh," Sam said while on the brink of tears, "he's alive."

"Yes but he doesn't sound too good," said Richter, "from that cough I'd say he's having trouble breathing."

"Then what are we still standing here for?" Powell asked. "Let's go help him."

"Wait a minute," Mike said, "I think just Sam and I should go first. Based on what Josh's saying, it sounds like he's seeing things again just like the last time we found him down here. There's no telling how he'll react when a bunch of strangers suddenly appear. He at least knows Sam and me. We'll go first and see if we can calm him down."

Blake nodded, "okay Michael, whatever you think is best."

With the plan figured out, Mike and Sam left the others and carefully approached where Josh's voice was coming from. It wasn't hard to follow it since Josh didn't stop talking and coughing during their approach. His voice did seem to be getting weaker though as he wasn't shouting like he was earlier. Mike and Sam were now approaching a corner. From what they could tell, Josh was just around it. It was hard to tell but Mike was sure he could hear Sam's heart pounding. No doubt she was feeling nervous like he was, though probably a lot more considering her feelings for Josh. After giving Sam a reassuring pat on the back, Mike guided her around the corner. They both froze when they saw the sight that greeted them.

Lying against a wall was Josh but he was almost unrecognizable from the last time Mike and Sam saw him. His three weeks in the mine were not kind to his appearance. The first thing Mike and Sam noticed was that Josh's hair was long enough that it was starting to hang over his ears and he was now sporting some facial hair that he didn't have before. He had also lost a noticeable amount of weight due to lack of food. At least Mike and Sam hoped he hadn't had any food. Hair growth and weight loss aside, there didn't appear to be any indication that Josh was turning into a wendigo. Still Mike and Sam were going to have to keep a close eye on him or else they would have a Norton situation all over again.

"(cough, cough) I trust you…Hannah…Be (cough, cough)."

Josh's coughing sounded worse now that Mike and Sam were close to him. They would have to wait until they could bring in Richter to find out for sure how bad it was. At that moment, their main concern was his mental state. As they suspected, he seemed to be in another world just like the last time they found him. His eyes were looking all over the place and he was talking to people that weren't actually there. He didn't even seem to notice that Mike and Sam were standing in front of him.

"Oh Mike," Sam sobbed, "look at him."

"I know," Mike replied as he knelt down so that he was eye level with Josh, "Josh? Buddy, are you alright? It's Mike. Sam and I've come to get you out of here."

If Josh had heard anything Mike had said, he didn't show it. He just kept looking around, mumbling and coughing. During a brief moment where he wasn't mumbling or coughing, Josh clutched his stomach in pain. It was during the moment of silence Mike heard another sound, Josh's stomach was growling. Though it was concerning to hear Josh's stomach growling so loudly, Mike was also relieved to hear it. If it was growling that bad, then it was likely Josh had not eaten anything, including any human flesh since being left on the mountain. There was a chance they could save him from becoming a wendigo after all.

Reaching into his backpack, Mike pulled out a piece of food, "here Josh. We brought you some food."

(SMACK)

"NO!" Josh screamed as smacked the food out of Mike's hand, "I told you Hannah! I don't want to eat anybody!"

Mike tried to offer Josh another piece of food only to get the same outcome. While Josh had just confirmed Mike's theory about him not eating any human flesh, he now faced a new problem. Josh was going to need to eat something if he was going to have any strength to get out of the mine. Unfortunately his hallucinations were causing him to think that Mike was Hannah trying to offer him human flesh to eat. Not wanting to risk wasting anymore food, Mike realized that he was going to have to somehow snap Josh back to reality before offering him another piece. Sam, who had been silently watching behind him came to the same conclusion.

"Are you going to slap him again?" she asked.

Mike let out a painful hiss as he thought back to when he had to slap Josh the last time they found him just to bring him back to his senses. It may have worked then but he always felt that he hit Josh a little harder than necessary. If Mike were to hit Josh that hard again when he was in his current state, it was likely to do more harm than good. They couldn't afford to hurt Josh anymore or else it would be near impossible to get him out of the mine.

"I'd really rather not do that Sam," Mike replied, "for Josh's sake we should probably try a gentler approach to bringing him out of this."

"Then what are you going to do?" Sam asked.

Suddenly a thought came to Mike, "you mean what are YOU going to do?"

Sam did a double take when she heard Mike's question, "me?! What do you mean me? In case you've forgotten Mike, I've been telling you that I'm not the best person to handle things delicately."

"Sam, remember how you were talking about how guilty you felt because you didn't stay with Josh and me the last time we were here. This is your chance to make amends for it. If anybody can get through to Josh, it's you."

"Mike…I….I don't know."

"Did you mean it when you called Josh the boy you love?"

"(sniff)…yes."

"Well look," Mike said as he gestured to Josh, "the boy you love needs you now. You can do this Sam."

Initially Sam didn't say or do anything. Mike just watched her while silently hoping that something he said had gotten through to her. A lot of progress had been made in bringing Sam back to her normal self and Mike felt that getting her to talk to Josh would be the last step in her recovery. Finally, to Mike's relief, Sam stepped towards Josh and knelt down to his eye level.

"Josh," she said, "it's me, Sam. Can you hear me?"

Silence.

"Come on Josh. Please talk to me."

More silence.

"Oh Josh (sob). I'm so sorry. I never should have left you down here. I can't explain why I did it but maybe if I had stayed, you wouldn't have been left down here for so long. What I did to you was so terrible that I won't blame you if you don't want to forgive me for it (sob). But I want you to know one thing Josh. The past year, whenever you came over to talk to me about how you were dealing with what happened to Hannah and Beth, you said I was the only one who understood. I felt like you and I got pretty close during that time. When you pulled that awful trick on us three weeks ago, I was so hurt that I thought maybe I was wrong. But then…after we got separated, I realized that even though I was still mad at you for what you did, that didn't change the way I felt about you (sniffle). What I'm trying to say Josh is…I love you."

When Sam had finished speaking, she carefully took a piece of food from Mike's backpack and held it out to Josh. This time Josh didn't try to knock the food away. Instead he just stared at it. He then looked up at Sam. His eyes locked with hers. In that moment, he looked at her with a look of recognition.

"S…S…Sam?" he stuttered.

Both Sam and Mike smiled. Though it took a little bit of work, the Josh they knew was trying to come back. Their smiles grew larger when Josh smiled as well.

"I…I…I knew y…you'd come b…back for me."

"What?" Sam gasped.

Before continuing, Josh had taken the food in Sam's hand. After taking one last look at the food, Josh devoured it. Every bite he took was followed by a satisfied moan. It wasn't the biggest piece of food that was in Mike's backpack but to Josh it was a three course meal. When the food had completely disappeared into Josh's mouth, he licked some remaining pieces from his lips and returned his attention to Sam.

"I knew you'd come back for me. When Hannah (cough, cough) dragged me away, I thought I was done for. But then I remembered that you were still out there. I knew once you realized I was still down here that you would come back with a rescue party. Where is the rescue party anyway?"

Josh's words caused more tears to appear in Sam's eyes. This didn't go unnoticed by Mike. He instantly knew what was wrong. She was feeling guilty because not only didn't she come back with a rescue party for Josh but she wouldn't have even come back for Josh if Mike hadn't convinced her to come with him. The fact Josh was so sure that she would come for him just added to Sam's overwhelming guilt. Sam even looked like she was about ready to tell Josh the truth.

"They're just around the corner," Mike said to Josh before Sam could say anything, "we just wanted to make sure you were…well acting like yourself before we brought them in."

With that said, Mike called out for the others to join them. Richter was the first one to appear. Once he was introduced as a medic, he got to work on examining Josh. The remaining members of the group followed suit and each one had a similar reaction to what Mike and Sam had when they found Josh. After Mike made the remaining introductions, he left Richter to finish his examination and pulled Sam and the others aside.

"How is he?" Alice asked.

"He's alive at least," Mike replied, "Richter will give us the final word when he's done. One thing I do know is that he's in no shape to get out of here on his own. At least this time it's because of a physical reason and not a mental one."

"So what's the plan Michael?" asked Blake.

"We head straight back to the mine shaft and ride it out of here. Josh will need two of us to help carry him out. I'm sure Richter will help but it'd be best to have one more person help too. I'd do it but I'm going to be covering us with my shotgun. Detective Powell? Tyler?"

Powell was about to raise his hand when Tyler spoke first, "I'll do it."

The response surprised Mike. Up until that point, Tyler had seemed to be only concerned with killing Hannah and avenging his wife's death. It took a lot of persuasion for Mike just to get Tyler to agree to help Rebecca cross the bridge instead of fighting Hannah and what would have been a losing fight. Sensing Mike's confusion, Tyler continued.

"Mo and I came down here because we wanted to help find Josh. When we found out about the monster and Mo died, I assumed like we all did at the time that Josh was already dead and that we had come down here for nothing. I thought all I could do was avenge Mo's death by killing the monster. Finding Josh alive changes things. I still want the monster dead but now I have a chance to finish what Mo and I came down here to do."

Hearing Tyler's reasoning made Mike smile. Between finding Josh alive, Sam having her breakthrough and now Tyler finally letting go of his thirst for revenge, things were looking up for the group. Unfortunately Mike knew that as long as they were in the mine there was always time for things to go south. They had to get out of the mine and fast. Gesturing for Tyler to follow him, Mike joined Richter who was just finishing his examination of Josh.

"What's the story Richter?" Mike asked.

"Well he's definitely under nourished," Richter replied, "the food you gave him might provide some temporary relief from the hunger pains but he still needs to get to a hospital. Are we ready to get out of here?"

Mike nodded. With Tyler's help, Richter got Josh on his feet. Josh would have fallen right back down if it wasn't for Richter and Tyler holding him up. Now that everyone was ready, Mike gathered everyone else together and they headed towards the mine shaft. Mike and Sam led the way with their weapons raised. Alice stood behind them holding one of Mike's lanterns to give him and Sam some light to see what might be lying ahead. Tyler and Richter were behind them supporting Josh on their shoulders. Finally Blake and Powell brought up the rear to make sure nothing was following them. Nobody said a word for most of the trek until Sam whispered to Mike.

"Why didn't you let me tell Josh the truth about why I came back here?" she asked.

Mike sighed because he knew the conversation was coming, "because as admirable as it is that you want to tell Josh the truth, we can't afford to say anything that might set him off again. Right now he's happy to see us and we need to keep him that way if we want him to cooperate with us. You can tell him anything you want once we get out of here."

It was Sam's turn to sigh, "well…if you think that's best."

"I know it is."

"I do too," Alice said causing Mike and Sam to give her a confused look, "what? I'm standing right behind you guys, how can I not hear what you're talking about."

"Right," Mike chuckled before turning his attention to Richter, "how's our patient doing?"

"Hanging in there," Richter replied, "he's a tough kid like you Michael."

"Tougher," Mike thought to himself, "I haven't spent the last three weeks in a mine without food."

"How…(cough, cough)…how much farther Mike?" Josh asked.

"We're almost there buddy," Mike answered unaware that Josh had passed out, "nothing is going to stop us from getting you out of here this time."

"SCREEEEEECH!"

A familiar screech made Mike feel that he had just jinxed the group. Everyone froze where they were. The only movements were in the groups eyes as they looked around to try and find where the screech came from. Even with the light illuminating from the lantern Alice was holding, it was still dark enough that trying to locate the source proved to be difficult. Suddenly a new sound from above caught the groups attention. It sounded like footsteps which was unusual since it was coming from the ceiling. Slowly everyone looked up.

Crawling like a spider on the ceiling above them was Hannah. As she crawled, she was looking around like a hunter stalking their prey. Fortunately for the prey, their standing still kept them hidden from Hannah's motion based vision. Though she couldn't see her prey, it looked like Hannah was convinced it was nearby. She stopped crawling when she was right on top of the group. Then she gently lowered herself down to the ground. It was a miracle that she didn't land on top of anybody. Despite the cold, each member of the group was starting to sweat as Hannah started pacing around them.

While Hannah was pacing, Mike and Sam were looking at each other and using their special communication to try and come up with a plan. To their horror, they couldn't come up with anything. Any plan would require one of them to move and any slight movement would result in Hannah being on them before they could actually do anything. The only thing they could do was remain still and pray that Hannah would move on eventually. Sadly that was not meant to be.

Hannah had now found herself standing in front of Josh, Richter and Tyler. The three men had a different expression on their faces. Richter looked at Hannah in terror. Tyler stared at Hannah with the same angry look Mike had seen on him while he shot at Hannah when they first met. Fortunately Tyler was being smart and kept his anger from causing him to attack Hannah and instead remained frozen. As for Josh, he wasn't looking at Hannah as he was still passed out….until he started coming around. He groggily lifted his head and his eyes opened to see he was face to face with Hannah. His eyes widened with horror and, without thinking, he screamed.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Hannah's screech caused Tyler and Richter to instinctively let Josh go and cover the ears. Their brief disorientation allowed Hannah to use her arms to send Tyler and Richter flying into opposite walls. The two men hit the wall hard enough that they were knocked unconscious. Hannah then reached to pick up Josh who was now screaming at Hannah to stay away from him. Deciding that remaining still was no longer an option, Mike and Sam aimed their weapons at Hannah. Unfortunately they realized that any shots they fired might hit Josh too. Somehow they had to get Hannah away from Josh first before they could attack her.

Thankfully Powell and Blake noticed their predicament and a thought popped into their heads for how they could help. Both of them still had their make-it-yourself flamethrowers. Powell pulled his out first, lit it and began walking towards Hannah. Sure enough, the sight of the flame caused Hannah to start backing away from Josh. Blake was about to join Powell but stopped when she noticed Powell hold his free hand up to stop her. At the same time he made eye contact with Mike and Sam to get their attention.

"Michael," Powell said, "I'll hold it off. Have the girls get the guys out of the line of fire. Take the shot once they're clear."

Mike nodded to indicate that he understood and signaled for Sam and Alice to help Blake. Blake and Alice carried Tyler and Richter respectively and Sam helped Josh. While Powell kept Hannah distracted with his flamethrower, the three pairs moved towards Mike who was waiting to fire his shotgun as soon as they passed him. One pair passed…then the second…as soon as the third one passed he would be ready.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

Before Mike could pull the trigger, Hannah spun around and managed to grab the shotgun out of Mike's hands. Then, to his and everybody else's horror, Hannah broke the gun in half. Watching the pieces of the gun hit the ground and Hannah moving towards him, Mike found himself being hit with a level of terror he hadn't felt before. He had always been a bit afraid when he dealt with Hannah and the other wendigos before but he at least had a weapon to defend himself and take some of the fear off. He closed his eyes in anticipation of Hannah's attack…but she didn't attack. Instead she just picked Mike up and placed him off to the side and started moving towards the others. Initially confused by what had happened, Mike quickly realized that he was once again spared because Hannah's human side wouldn't let her hurt the guy she liked.

"GAAAHHH!"

Mike was snapped out of his thought when he heard a pained scream. The scream had come from Sam who attempted to fire her flare gun at Hannah only to have it knocked out of her hand. Hannah was apparently getting wise to Mike and Sam's tricks and not giving them any more chances to try them. Sam attempted to run away but Hannah grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. She then brought Sam close to her face like she was studying her. Mike hoped that maybe Hannah would recognize Sam as her best friend and spare her like she did him. His hopes were dashed when Sam started gasping for air. Hannah was tightening her grip around Sam's neck. With no weapon, Mike wasn't in a position to help her. Then he noticed Powell standing nearby with his flamethrower can still in hand. He held out his hand towards Powell as a way to ask him for the can. Powell looked at Mike and then at the can. It looked like he was going to give Mike the can but then Sam gasped again. The lack of oxygen was slowly draining the color from her face. Gripping the can tighter, Powell shook his head at Mike and charged at Hannah.

"POWELL NO!" Mike shouted in a futile attempt to stop Powell.

Powell lit the flamethrower and aimed it at Hannah's back. The pain from the fire caused Hannah to scream and throw her arms back. As she did, she let go of Sam sending her flying. Mike was barely able to get into a position to catch Sam. With Hannah no longer gripping her neck, Sam was starting to breathe again.

"I got you Sam," Mike said, "you're going to be alright now."

"(cough) Thanks…Mike."

"POWELL!"

Looking up from Sam, Mike's eyes widened when he saw what made Blake scream. Hannah had turned around to face Powell and had driven one of her hands right through Powell's chest. The spray can Powell was holding fell out of his hand and began to roll towards Mike and Sam. Mike couldn't believe what he was seeing. Powell was practically built like a bull and Mike thought nothing could take him down. Sadly a clawed hand to the chest could do just that. What also surprised Mike was that Powell had gotten hurt saving Sam's life. He had been hostile towards Sam since the whole thing started and had even contemplated escaping the mine with the others and leaving Sam behind. It was just hard to believe that out of all the people he could have sacrificed himself to save, it ended up being Sam. With the last of his strength, Powell turned his head to face Mike.

"No one…gets left behind," he coughed as he took his last breath.

When Powell had died, Hannah tossed his lifeless body aside and returned her attention to the rest of the group. Josh, Blake and Alice could have made a break for it but that would have meant leaving a still unconscious Tyler and Richter behind. In that moment, something came over Mike. It wasn't the sadness and guilt he felt when someone died, though that would likely come later. Instead he felt anger. He had wanted to save Josh and as many of the fifteen search party members. Besides Josh, there were now only four search party members left. For the past year, death had been a thorn in his side and he was tired of it. Right then he decided that he was not going to let anybody else die. After helping Sam to her feet, Mike grabbed the spray can Powell dropped as well as a nearby rock. He then threw the rock at Hannah's back.

"HANNAH!" he shouted. "COME AND GET ME! FREASH MEAT RIGHT HERE! COME ON!"

Hannah appeared to be annoyed by Mike hitting her with the rock but shrugged it off and continued to approach the rest of the group. Mike cursed to himself. Hannah just refused to attack him. Even after all the times he shot her with the shotgun, her human side's affection for Mike wouldn't let her attack him. Suddenly an old adage popped into his head. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." That gave Mike an idea. Unfortunately it wasn't an idea he was entirely happy with. Still it was probably the only way he was going to get Hannah to leave the group and come after him.

"Sam," he whispered, "be ready to get the others out of here once I get Hannah to chase after me."

"How are you going to do that?" Sam asked.

Mike didn't answer Sam but instead thought to himself, "forgive me Jess."

His mind made up, Mike took another rock and threw it at Hannah to get her attention. Once she was facing him, Mike grabbed Sam and pulled her closer to him. Before Sam could ask him what he was doing, Mike kissed her. Sam made an initial noise of surprise when his lips touched hers. Fortunately she picked up on what his plan was and played along. The kiss was slightly awkward for both of them since they both were in love with someone else. However they just told themselves they were kissing their respected lovers and did their best to look like they were sharing a genuine, passionate kiss.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"

Mike realized his plan was working as Hannah let out the longest, loudest screech he had heard from her since their first encounter. As much as he hated to do it, he knew that having Hannah seeing the guy she liked kissing her best friend was the only way he could get her mad enough to chase after him. Mike then used the spray can he picked up to temporarily distract Hannah. The distraction allowed Sam to freeze and hide herself from Hannah's sight. This left Mike as the only moving target for Hannah.

"THAT'S RIGHT HANNAH!" he shouted as he started running away. "I LOVE SAM, NOT YOU! IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT, COME AND GET ME!"

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"

It pained Mike to say the stuff that he was but it was paying off. Hannah was ignoring the others and actively pursuing him. While he ran, Mike looked at the spray can in his hand. It would allow him to keep Hannah from getting too close for a while but eventually it would be empty and he'd be defenseless. Getting Hannah to chase after him was practically a suicide move on Mike's part. Ultimately he didn't care. He did what he did to allow Sam to have time to get the others out of the mine and to safety. All he had to do was keep himself alive long enough for Sam to do that.


	13. Climax

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

When Mike and Hannah were gone from the group's view, Sam had a brief moment where she was frozen with indecision. Her first instinct was to grab the flare gun from where she dropped it when Hannah had her by the neck and chase after her and Mike. Her concern for Mike was increased when she glanced at the pieces on the ground that used to be his shotgun. Sam knew that Mike was capable of outrunning Hannah but he couldn't do it forever. The question was could he outrun her long enough for Sam to do something else before going after him.

As much as Sam wanted to help Mike, something, or rather someone was keeping her from doing it. After three weeks of thinking that the guy she loved was dead, she was finally reunited with Josh and she didn't want to get separated from him again. It pained her a little bit that, in her earlier mental state, she didn't really believe Josh was still alive and had only agreed to come back to the mountain to avoid being sent to a mental institution. Now that she knew Josh was alive, the main thing she wanted was to keep him that way. But could she live with herself if she left the guy who helped her save Josh to die in order to guarantee that?

In a way, the situation reminded Sam of the final moments in the lodge before she and Mike were rescued. She found herself having to make a decision that could have resulted in someone's death then too. The difference was that time the decision was either save herself and let Mike get killed by Hannah or use herself as bait to lure Hannah away and allow Mike to escape. This time she was having to choose who to save first at the risk of the other person dying before she could save them too. The guy she loved or the guy who helped her save the guy she loved? Sam just didn't know what to do.

"Get the others out of here." Suddenly Sam heard Mike's voice in her head repeating the last thing he said to her before he kissed her as part of his plan to get Hannah to chase after him. Mike's words made her realize something. She had been so focused on Josh and Mike that she had briefly forgotten about the others. Alice was tending to Josh trying to keep him conscious. As for Blake, she was trying to get Richter and Tyler to wake up but was having a hard time since she was still broken up over what happened to Powell. That was further shown by the way she kept looking over at Powell's body. Looking at the rest of the group helped Sam find the last piece she needed to make her decision. Mike's main goal for coming back to the mountain was to save Josh and the others. He was now letting Hannah chase him so that Sam could finish the job. Helping the others get out of the mine mattered more to Mike than staying alive himself. So as much as Sam wanted to help Mike, she was going to respect his wishes and focus on getting the others out first.

"Hang in there Mike," Sam thought to herself, "I'll come back for you as soon as I can."

With her mind made up, Sam rejoined the group. Blake had just succeeded in getting Richter and Tyler to wake up. They both were initially slow to wake up but the sight of Powell's body helped speed up the process. As for Josh, he was still struggling to stay awake but Alice was helping by keeping him engaged in conversation. From what Sam picked up when she approached the group, Alice was talking about movies she had seen that were made by Josh's father. Good choice of topic, Sam thought.

Josh was a movie buff and Sam could remember all the times he would talk her ear off about movies and sometimes the special effects behind them. With all that knowledge, Sam felt that Josh could have a future career in special effects. While his prank three weeks ago was horrible, it did help confirm Sam's theory because of how realistic everything he staged seemed. If it wasn't for some breadcrumbs Josh left behind, Sam would have been genuinely surprised when he revealed himself to be "the Psycho" that had been stalking them. Between that and the stuff she read in a psychiatric file about Josh that she found in the lodge's basement, it was hard for Sam to look at Josh the same way again. Looking at Josh now, Sam saw the guy that she had spent many days grieving with after what happened to Hannah and Beth. Even if Josh got out of the mine alive, he still had a lot of issues he would need to deal with in order to recover. Fortunately Sam felt there was a chance he could do it…especially if he had her by his side for support. If Mike could help her with her problems than maybe she could do the same for Josh.

(CLICK)

Sam's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a gun click. She turned to face the source of the sound to see Blake had pulled out her pistol and was doing a quick check to see how many bullets were still in the clip. When she put the clip back in the gun, she started moving towards the direction Mike and Hannah went.

"Come on Sam," she said as she walked away "let's go help Michael and kill that monster."

"Detective," Sam called, "we need to get out of here."

Blake looked at Sam like she had returned to her crazy mental state, "after everything Michael's done for you, you're just going to run away and let him die?"

"I'm not leaving him. He's leading Hannah away from here so that I can safely get you all out of here. After I do that, I will come back and help Mike. So let's go, the quicker I get you all outside, the quicker I can help him."

"But…" Blake started to say before she turned back to look at Powell's body. A lone tear started to run down her face before she quickly wiped it away. However she wasn't able to wipe it off before it could be noticed by Sam. Concerned by what she was seeing, Sam carefully approached Blake.

"Detective?" she said. "Are you…?"

Before Sam could finish asking her question, she froze. In her previous mental state, Sam may not have spooked easily but something in Blake's eyes made her nervous. The reason for her nerves was because it was something she had seen before in Powell's eyes whenever he was about ready to attack her. Blake's eyes were filled with fiery rage. What Blake said next further showed how angry she was.

"That MONSTER killed my partner!" she growled.

Sam opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Her eyes moved back and forth between looking at Blake, the others and towards the direction Mike and Hannah went. Internally, Sam was thinking that Blake's sudden thirst for revenge couldn't have come at a worse time. She was in a race against the clock to get the others out of the mine and then help Mike and she couldn't afford to waste time trying to get Blake to calm down. It began to look like she wasn't going to have a chance to do it anyways as Blake was already walking away.

"Fine!" Blake said as she walked. "If you're not going to come, I'll go and kill that monster myself."

"DETECTIVE STOP!"

A new voice caused Blake to freeze where she was. Both she and Sam turned towards the source of voice. They were both surprised and concerned when they saw who the voice belonged to. Struggling to get to his feet was Tyler. As he stood up, he held out his hand to silently tell Blake to wait.

"Really Tyler?" said Blake. "You want to stop me too? If anything you should be the one who wants me to kill that monster more than I do."

"Detective," Tyler said once he was fully upright, "I understand how you're feeling right now. Believe me, when Mo died I couldn't think about anything except wanting the monster dead. But I can see now that the only thing my wanting revenge has accomplished is get more people killed. Michael and Sam probably would have killed the monster shortly after they found us if I hadn't shot at it. Rebecca probably would have been able to reach the other side of the bridge in time if I would have just helped her cross right when Michael asked me too. Maybe…maybe Detective Powell would still be alive too. My point is that if you want the monster dead, you should do what Sam says and trust that she and Michael will handle it."

All eyes were now on Blake as she debated on what to do next. After a few seconds, she sighed and gestured for Sam to lead the way. Sam smiled and nodded before telling everyone to get ready to move out. With both Tyler and Richter now awake and able to walk, they resumed their job of helping to carry Josh. Sam, Blake and Alice also returned to the spots in the line they were in before Hannah attacked. Once everyone was ready, they quickly but carefully headed for the mine shaft. Before they got too far, Sam briefly turned to face behind her.

"Please Mike," she thought to herself, "just hold on a little longer."

* * *

There's nothing like being chased by a wendigo to make a person appreciate being in good shape. Since leading Hannah away from the group, Mike had managed to keep a good distance from her. He knew however that he wouldn't be able to keep the pace up for much longer. A wendigo's endurance was far superior to a human's. Even at that moment, Mike was starting to feel out of breath. He was tempted to look behind him to see where Hannah was but he knew that looking back would slow him down enough to allow Hannah to close the gap. Instead he kept his eyes forward while scanning for anything that could help him.

"SCREEEEEECH!"

If it wasn't for Hannah's occasional screeches, Mike might have assumed that he had somehow given her the slip. While it wasn't good for Mike that Hannah was still chasing her, it also meant she wasn't going after the others. So far Mike's plan was working. He figured that it was going to take just a few more minutes before Sam and the others would be out of the mine. He didn't know what he would do to escape Hannah after those minutes had past nor did he know if it was possible to escape at all but as long as the others made it out, that was all that mattered.

Suddenly Mike came to point where the path split into two directions. He briefly stopped running to debate on which path to take. While stopped, he noticed something strange. During the entire time he was being chased, he could hear Hannah pursuing him but now it was completely silent in the mine. A drop of sweat fell down Mike's head while he ran through his options. He could assume Hannah had lost him and stand still where he was in hope that Hannah would move on. The problem with that plan was that even if he had evaded Hannah's sight, there was no telling how long it would take her to move away far enough for him to flee. The second option was to take either one of the two paths and hope one led him to a place he could hide or even out of the mine altogether. Unfortunately Hannah would notice him move and there was also a chance he could run right into her. Hannah was capable of navigating the mine faster than he could and might have taken a path that allowed her to get in front of him. Deciding that he was going to have to deal with Hannah one way or another, Mike chose to run down the path on the right.

A little ways down the path he took, Mike found a spot where the wall opened into a small alcove. There were some wooden panels covering up most of it but Mike could easily fit inside it and hide. Though he still wasn't keen on staying in one place, the alcove wouldn't leave him out in the open where Hannah could see him make an accidental movement. With Hannah still nowhere in sight, Mike took the opportunity to duck inside. The alcove wasn't too deep so the only way Mike could hide was to press his back up against the panels. From his position, he could peak out from the alcove without exposing himself too much. Not that he was planning on risking that when he didn't know where Hannah was…

…At least he didn't until he suddenly heard footsteps slowly approaching his position. The occasional soft screeches he heard confirmed it was Hannah. From what he could hear, it sounded like Hannah was in hunting mode. It was hard for Mike to believe but it looked like he really did escape Hannah's detection. Mike pressed his back closer to the wall and held his breath. Using his peripheral vision, he watched for Hannah to pass by the alcove's entrance. He waited for several seconds but Hannah didn't appear. Stranger still, everything got quiet again. There were no more footsteps or screeches. Confused by the sudden silence, Mike decided to risk taking a peak outside the alcove.

"What the…?" Mike thought.

Hannah was no where to be seen. Mike knew he heard her pacing and screeching outside the alcove just a few seconds ago. She never walked past his hiding spot and there was no indication that she went back the way she came. So where could she have gone? Slowly Mike stepped out of the alcove to take a closer look

(CRASH)

"SCREEEEEECH!"

"GAAAHHH!"

Mike barely stepped out of the alcove when Hannah's hands smashed through the wooden panels and attempted to grab him. If it wasn't for Mike's split second reaction to the sound of the panels being smashed through, she would have succeeded. However Mike wasn't able to get out of the way completely unscathed. Hannah's clawed fingers managed to scratch the right side of his face. Mike's first instinct was to reach for the scratch but he forced himself to ignore the pain and started running. Hannah was busy shaking off debris that fell on her when she smashed through the wall so it gave Mike enough of a head start. As Mike ran, he cursed at himself for nearly letting himself get caught. While trying to figure out where Hannah had disappeared to, Mike had completely forgotten about her ability to crawl on ceilings. The way he figured it, Hannah made the footsteps and screeches to make him think he had given her the slip. Then she jumped onto the ceiling, crawled into the alcove from above and waited for Mike to step out to investigate her disappearance before attacking. It was a brilliant plan that would have succeeded if Mike hadn't managed to react as quickly as he did. It was just dumb luck. The question was how much longer could Mike continue to evade Hannah before his luck ran out.

* * *

"How's he doing?"

It was probably the fifth time Sam had asked Richter about Josh's status. She should have been able to tell how Josh was doing by the fact he was able to walk, even though it was with the assistance of Richter and Tyler. The only explanation she could think of for why she kept checking on him was because her feelings for him were making her worry more. Fortunately Richter was used to overly concerned loved ones because of his job. As a result, he just smiled and calmly told Sam that Josh was doing good all things considered. Sam smiled back but inside she was still filled with worry.

It had been a long and nerve-wracking ride up the slightly rickety mine shaft but now it felt like it was taking forever for the group to find the exit. It didn't help that they came across at least one fork and had to debate on which path to take. As far as Sam knew, Mike didn't say how long it would take to get out of the mine after riding up the mine shaft but she had hoped it they would have found the exit by now. Every second that went by without finding the exit added to her concern.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Sam's thought were taken off her concerns when Alice spoke. She looked in the direction that Alice was looking and saw what had gotten her attention. A little ways ahead, there appeared to be a hint of…daylight! Her first instinct was to run towards the source but she held back on actually doing it. For a second, all the times Mike was constantly telling her to take things slow ran through her mind. Now that she was slowly returning to her normal self, she was actually wiling to follow his instructions. Then she thought of something else. It was something she didn't want to think about but it helped her make a decision. Knowing that Hannah was currently chasing Mike, she didn't have to worry about running into her and could throw caution to the wind.

After telling the others to pick up the pace, Sam led them towards the source of the light. As they got closer, the mine seemed to get brighter and brighter. It soon got bright enough that Alice didn't need to use the lantern anymore. Finally the group reached the source of the light. When their eyes had fully adjusted, everyone with the exception of Sam stood with mouths open in awe. The group had made it out of the mine and were back on the surface. Sam was happy with what she was seeing but the reason she wasn't in awe like the others was because she had only been in the mine for barely a day. The others hadn't seen daylight for a week. In Josh's case it had been three weeks. After taking in the view and being set down by Richter and Tyler, Josh suddenly broke into tears. Seeing Josh in tears brought Sam racing to his side.

"Josh?" she said, "are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay Sam," Josh said after he had composed himself slightly, "it's just I've never noticed how beautiful this view was before."

Sam smiled, "well you have been in a dark, dreary mine for three weeks Josh. Any view would look beautiful after that."

"Yeah," said Tyler, "even with a run down processing facility in the middle of it."

Sam turned to face where Tyler was looking Sure enough the group had found themselves not only outside the mine but also outside an abandoned building that had previously been used to process the minerals that were brought out of the mine back when it was operational. Among the features of the building was a conveyor belt that lead up to a crusher. While not an appealing looking building, it did give Sam an idea. She pulled out the flare gun and started to aim it towards the sky.

"What are you doing Sam?" asked Blake.

"We need to get Josh off this mountain fast but I don't think he can travel much further even with assistance. Our best chance is getting the attention of the other rescue workers who are likely still digging at the other mine entrance. Unfortunately we can't call them due to the spotty cell service up here. But they should be able to spot a flare and come investigate. You guys can wait inside the processing facility until they get here."

Blake nodded, "okay, do it."

When the flare gun was pointing straight up, Sam pulled the trigger causing a flare to rise several feet into the air. At its peak height, Sam had no doubt that it could be seen anywhere on the mountain. Somebody was bound to see it and send help in no time. A happy tear fell from Sam's eye. Josh and the others were going to be saved. She had helped Mike accomplish what he had come back to Blackwood Mountain to do. But she couldn't celebrate just yet. There was still one thing she needed to do.

"Sam" Josh said interrupting Sam's thought, "I might still be a little out of it but it sounded like you were implying that you're not going to be waiting for the rescuers with us."

"Yeah," Sam sighed, "I need to go back in the mine and find Mike."

"No," Josh said as he tried to get up only to be held down by Richter and Tyler, "Sam you can't go back in there alone."

"I have to Josh. Mike wanted me to get you all to safety. Now that I've done that, I need to help him. I can't risk undoing what I did to save you guys by having you come with me so you're all going to stay here and wait for the rescuers. With luck, Mike and I will be back before they get here."

"Sam…"

"Josh?"

"There's so much I've been wanting to say to you. I definitely have a few apologizes I owe you. After waiting so long for the chance to see you again, I just don't want to lose you before I have the chance to tell you everything."

Hearing that Josh had been thinking about her during his ordeal in the mine and was concerned for her well-being had a mixed effect on Sam's heart. On the one hand, it warmed her heart to hear that Josh was worried about her. Whatever doubts she had about the connection she had with him were gone. By all appearances, he cared about her as much as she did him. On the other hand, it pained her hearing what Josh said. When he talked about how long he had been waiting for Sam to find him so that he could talk to her, it was another reminder to Sam she didn't make an effort to look for Josh until Mike asked for her help. In fact she even went so far as to try and suppress all her emotions including her feelings for Josh to bury the pain she felt following that night. She couldn't help but wonder if she deserved to be with Josh when she was so easily willing to bury her feelings for him.

Unfortunately Sam knew that it was not the best time for her to dwell on her future with Josh. Mike was waiting for her. Thinking quickly, she decided that the best way to get Josh to understand why she had to help Mike was to tell the truth. The group was out of the mine and no longer in danger so there was no reason to worry about Josh being cooperative anymore. If he still wasn't willing to let her go, Richter and Tyler would be able to keep him from doing anything crazy. With a plan in mind, Sam knelt down so that she was eye level with Josh.

"I'm sorry Josh," she said, "but I have to do this. The truth is, I didn't put together this search party to find you. For the past three weeks, I had accepted that you were dead and that there was no point in looking for you. Mike was the one who came to believe otherwise and he's the one who talked me into coming here to find you. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here and you and the others wouldn't have been rescued. I won't leave him to die after everything he's done."

Josh was initially silent after Sam finished speaking. Sam tried to read Josh's expression to figure out what he was thinking. This proved difficult and frustrated her. She wondered if Mike felt the same way all the times he tired to read her while she was in her crazy phase. Finally Josh sighed when he reached a decision. He managed to muster a smile and nodded.

"Okay," he said, "I understand. Go in there and get lover boy back."

The nickname Josh used for Mike took Sam by surprise. She knew that Mike kissing her was necessary for his plan to provoke Hannah into chasing him. She had hoped however that Josh was unconscious at the time and didn’t see it. His last statement proved otherwise. She tried to speak but kept stumbling over her words. Suddenly Josh started laughing which further surprised Sam.

"I'm just kidding Sam," he said as his laughter died down, "I know it wasn't a real kiss. If I was to be jealous of anything, it would be the fact he got to kiss you before I did."

Sam did a double take when she heard Josh's last statement, "what?"

"We'll talk more when you get back but there's one thing I should tell you now," Josh continued shifting to a serious tone, "I may have been out of it when you and Mike found me but I did hear everything you said…and….I love you too."

Even compared to the creepy smiles she had sported most of the day, the smile that appeared on Sam's face in that moment was the biggest by far. The guy she loved had just told her he felt the same way. She wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him right then and there. Sadly, as tempting as it was, time was not on her side. Fortunately Josh seemed to pick up on her hesitation.

"I know what you're thinking Sam," he said, "but we both know Mike needs you right now. We'll continue this conversation WHEN you come back."

With a new sense of motivation to come back alive and note of confidence from Josh to further inspire her, Sam said quick farewells to the rest of the group, took the lantern Alice was using and made her way back into the mine.

* * *

Whatever inspiration Sam got from Josh was starting to fade as she continued roaming the mine without any sign of Mike. Her desperation was starting to make her wish that the roles were reversed. If she had been the one Hannah was chasing, Mike's knowledge of the mine's layout would have allowed him to find her with no problem. Sam knew roughly how to get to a few areas of the mine but not with enough confidence to get there quickly. With the current route she was taking not panning out, she was about ready to backtrack to an intersection she passed and take a different route.

Before she could turn around, Sam was startled by a noise that came from up ahead. Some rocks had been disturbed by someone, or something walking toward her. She instinctively raised her flare gun and pointed it towards the source of the noise. With each consecutive sound of rocks being disturbed, Sam could tell that whatever was making the noise was coming at her fast…maybe too fast. A wendigo maybe able to move fast but Sam was developing a feeling that something smaller was making the noise.

(GROWL)

Sam didn't have a chance to adjust her aim after developing her theory. From out of nowhere, a wolf appeared. It pounced on her knocking her to the ground. Now on her back, Sam found herself face to face with the wolf. It continued to growl as it appeared ready to start taking bites out of her. Sam closed her eyes in what she knew was a useless attempt to prepare herself for what was coming. Except the wolf didn't bite her. Instead, it suddenly stopped growling and started sniffing Sam's face. The main focal point of its sniffing was Sam's mouth. Initially unsure of why the wolf was interested in her mouth, Sam remembered her kiss with Mike. If Mike left a bit of his scent when they kissed, the wolf was probably picking up on it. The question then was why would it be interested in Mike's scent. Unless…

"Wolfie?"

Instantly the wolf's mood changed and it began licking Sam's face like a dog that was excitedly greeting its owner. As hard as it was to believe, Sam had found the wolf that Mike had befriended three weeks ago during his previous trips in the sanitarium. Somehow he had escaped the fire and found his way into the mine. Once Wolfie finally stopped licking her face, Sam slowly pushed him off of her. Despite being relieved that she managed to avoid being eaten by a wolf, her thought immediately returned to Mike and how she still wasn't any closer to finding him. In an act of desperation, Sam decided to try asking Wolfie for help. He may not have been Lassie but maybe he would understand what she said.

"Wolfie? Your friend, Mike, he's down here and he's in trouble. Can you help me find him?"

Miraculously, Wolfie seemed to understand Sam and took off back the way he had come from. Sam followed him as best as she could but Wolfie was fast. She almost lost sight of him when Wolfe suddenly stopped. They probably hadn't gone more than a fifty yards from where they started. She was about to scold Wolfie for not being helpful when she noticed that he was looking down an adjacent alcove. Inside the alcove was a large cabinet. At first glance, the cabinet didn't appear to be too old, at least not old enough to have been down in the mine back when it was operational. As far as Sam knew, the only person who would have been in the mine since it shut down was the stranger. Being one of his pets, it would make sense for Wolfie to know where the cabinet was if the stranger had placed it there himself. Sam carefully opened the cabinet. What she saw inside made her initially gasp in surprise and then smile.

"Good idea Wolfie," she said, "this will definitely come in handy."

* * *

It was no use. Michael couldn't run anymore. His pace slowed with each additional step he took until he came to a stop. Putting his hand against the walls was the only way he could keep himself from collapsing. He knew he wouldn't have long to catch his breath before Hannah caught up to him but he just couldn't go on. From the look of things, Mike was running out of time. He then decided that it was time to stop running. With the amount of time he had been letting Hannah chase him, he figured Sam should have been able to get the others out of the mine. There was no need to keep the chase going any longer. Breathing a sigh of sad acceptance, Mike stood up and turned to face Hannah.

Mike didn't have to wait long for Hannah to appear. She came charging at him like a bat out of hell but then stopped short when she reached him. Standing up straight, she towered over Mike. She then leaned down and came face-to-face with Mike as she seemed to be looking him over. Mike didn't flinch once during her examination. Suddenly Hannah let out a screech right in Mike's face. For the first time, the screech that had haunted Mike's nightmares didn't phase him. Instead he wiped some of the spit from Hannah's screech off his face and got into a fighting stance.

"Bring it on Hannah," he said.

Hannah obliged with Mike's challenge and swung her right arm, striking Mike and sending him flying backward. The landing hurt a little but Mike quickly got back up on his feet. Resorting to the strategy he used on Norton, Mike charged at Hannah in an attempt to tackle her. Unfortunately Hannah's size advantage rendered that strategy moot. She simply stepped to the side causing Mike to miss. As Mike ran by, Hannah swung her left arm across Mike's back.

"AAAH!"

Mike screamed as he felt Hannah’s clawed fingers scratch his back. He stumbled forward and instinctively reached towards where Hannah scratched him. He groaned in pain when his hand made contact with the spot. The darkness made it difficult to see clearly but Mike was fairly certain he was feeling blood on his back. Hannah’s claws managed to cut through his jacket, shirt and made a scratch in his back deep enough that he was bleeding. Mike groaned but this time it was a frustrated groan. He knew a fight was going to be one-sided but he had hoped that he would have gotten in a few blows first. Foregoing the Norton strategy, Mike tried to throw a punch. Hannah just caught the punch and began squeezing Mike’s hand. The feeling of his hand being crushed caused Mike to slowly fall back to the ground. Just before he hit the ground, Hannah grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air. She then tossed Mike like a Frisbee causing him to fly across the room. When Mike landed, he managed to land on his feet but one foot landed a bit awkwardly causing it to twist almost completely around.

“AAAAAAAAAH!”

The pain Mike felt in his back was quickly forgotten as his newly twisted ankle caused a new pain to emerge. Mike fell down to the ground and started rubbing his ankle which was already starting to swell. With the amount of pain he was in, there was no way Mike was getting back up again. All he could do was watch as Hannah let out a screech that Mike imagined was the wendigo equivalent of a winner’s cheer. Once Hannah was through celebrating her victory, she raised her arm to deliver the final blow.

"HOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLL!"

Both Mike and Hannah froze when they suddenly heard howling. The howling was followed by barking and growling. The echoes made it sound like a bunch of dogs were coming but Mike didn't think that was the case. Based on the howl, it was likely only one wolf that was coming. Mike's first instinct was to be frustrated that he now had to deal with a wolf that wanted to eat him on top of Hannah. But then another possibility popped in his head and his eyes lit up with renewed hope.

"Wolfie!" he called.

The wolf appeared after Mike called his name. Running full speed, Wolfie charged at Hannah and leaped onto her. Hannah screeched in pain as Wolfe proceeded to claw at her and take bites out of her. As Hannah stumbled around trying to get Wolfie off of her, Mike scooted himself back to get out of Hannah's path. Once he reached a safe distance, he looked on as Wolfie fought with Hannah. Seeing Wolfie again made Mike both relieved and nervous. He was relieved to see Wolfie was still alive and that he had shown up to save his life. On the other hand he knew that Wolfie wouldn't be able to keep Hannah distracted for long. Without fire, the odds were still in Hannah's favor.

"(WHISTLE)"

Wolfie's ears perked up when a whistle was heard. He stopped attacking Hannah and leapt off of her. Before Hannah could recover from Wolfie's attack, she was suddenly engulfed in flames. To say Mike was surprised by Hannah's spontaneous combustion would be an understatement. In an attempt to figure out what was going on, Mike angled himself so that he could see past Hannah. It was in the same direction that Wolfie had appeared from and the whistle was heard. What he saw made him smile.

Behind Hannah was what could only be described as a beam of fire. The beam lead to a flamethrower. Handling the flamethrower was none other than Sam. Mike had thought he looked like an action hero with his shotgun and jacket but Sam definitely looked like an action hero herself as she wielded the flamethrower. Sam kept the flame concentrated on Hannah who was now stumbling more erratically than when Wolfie was biting her.

"Heads up Mike!" Sam shouted.

Mike watched as Sam briefly stopped firing the flamethrower and used one of her hands to pull something out from behind her. She then tossed what she pulled out to Mike. Landing in Mike's hands was the flare gun and the belt with the flares. Mike instantly figured out why Sam gave them to her. Considering the fact that Hannah survived a house explosion, they couldn't rely on the flamethrower doing the job on its own. While Sam resumed firing the flamethrower, Mike aimed the flare gun and fired. The shot hit Hannah right in the chest. The combined effects of being hit with the flamethrower and the flare gun caused Hannah to screech louder than ever. Mike quickly loaded another flare and fired again. He and Sam were going to end things once and for all even if they had use every flare and empty the flamethrower's tank.

"Mike!"

A new but familiar voice caused Mike and Sam to stop firing.

"Mike!"

Mike and Sam nearly dropped their weapons when they heard the voice again and realized why it was familiar. What was more disturbing was where the voice was coming from. Hannah was no longer screeching like a wendigo and instead using her original voice. It was the first time in more than a year that either of them had heard her voice outside of video recordings of her.

"Please Mike! Don't let me die!"

Mike looked to Sam who was now covering her mouth in shock and looked like she was about to cry. Not that he could blame her though. Hannah was her best friend and hearing her voice pleading to be spared was probably a lot to take in. Especially considering everything else she had gone through the past year. As for Mike himself, all he could think about was that everything that had happened to Hannah the past year was his fault. Instead of doing the right thing and refusing the be a part of the prank, he willingly agreed to play a key role in it. Hannah had a crush on him and he allowed that to be taken advantage of and used to embarrass and humiliate Hannah so much that she ran off into the woods and ended up getting turned into a monster. If he had just said no to the prank, none of the past years terrible events would have happened and Beth, Matt, Chris, Emily and Ashley might have still been alive. Now he understood what Chris was talking about every time he talked about the butterfly effect.

"Help me Mike! Please!"

Hannah's continued pleas snapped Mike out of his thought and returned his focus to her. As he watched her collapsing to the ground as the fire consumed her, he sighed. Of all the things that had happened as a result of the prank, Hannah being turned into a wendigo could easily be considered the worst of them. Instead of dying in the mine, Hannah was now a monster with an unsatisfiable hunger for human flesh. And there was no telling how long she would be like that. After all, the other wendigos Mike encountered were originally miners from the fifties and they only died sixty years later because Mike and Sam killed them. Unless Mike and Sam did something, Hannah could be doomed to live as a wendigo forever. With that last thought, Mike made up his mind and loaded another flare.

"Keep firing Sam!" she shouted.

"What?" Sam asked confused.

"We need to end this. We can't save Hannah but we can at least end her suffering."

Sam was initially reluctant to do what Mike said. However after taking another look at Hannah, she realized he was right. She nodded and resumed firing the flamethrower. Mike followed suit and fell into a cycle of firing and reloading flares. Realizing her plan wasn't working, Hannah stopped using her original voice and started screeching again. The screech started out loud but grew softer as Mike and Sam continued their assault. Finally, after what felt like forever, Hannah's screeching ceased and she stopped moving. Seeing Hannah become still caused Mike and Sam to stop firing again but they kept their weapons raised just in case. Suddenly they heard a screech again but it wasn't coming from Hannah's body. For a brief moment, the mine was lit up as the spirit of the wendigo appeared, flew around Mike and Sam and then vanished. When everything was quiet again, Mike and Sam lowered their weapons and somberly looked at Hannah's remains. Mike only smiled briefly when Wolfie came to his side. He patted Wolfie on the head while calling him a good boy and saying it was good to see him again.

"Is…is it over?" Sam said.

Mike nodded, "it's over. Hannah's finally at peace."


	14. Finale

[ ](http://sta.sh/012yrhsgj5l2)

Despite Mike's assurance that everything was over, he and Sam continued to stare at Hannah's burning remains. Maybe it was because they had seen too many horror movies where the supposedly dead villain came back to life for one final attack. Then again it could have just been them being cautious since they thought they had already killed Hannah in the house explosion three weeks ago. Fortunately Mike and Sam realized they didn't need to wait until Hannah was a pile of ashes before they could take their eyes off of her. It was good to be cautious but they already got the confirmation they needed that Hannah was dead when they saw the wendigo spirt leave Hannah's body and disappear. All it took was one bad day to begin the chain of events that turned Hannah into a monster. Now, after another bad day more than a year later, Hannah was freed from the wendigo curse.

(BARK)

Mike and Sam's thoughts were interrupted when Wolfie began barking. In spite of the grim atmosphere, Mike managed a small smile. Wolfie didn't understand why Hannah's death was bittersweet to him and Sam. Instead he looked like he was more concerned with waiting for Mike to thank him for the rescue. Knowing he deserved it, Mike scratched Wolfie behind the ears.

"Thank you Wolfie," he said, "you and Sam saved my life. You really are a good boy."

Mike turned to Sam when he was finished congratulating Wolfie. He noticed that she was looking at him with concern. It was then Mike was hit by a sharp pain in his ankle. Between the fight with Hannah and the unexpected but welcomed arrival of Wolfie and Sam, Mike had forgotten about twisting his ankle. Seeing how swollen it had gotten since the initial injury made Mike realize he had a new problem. If his ankle hurt while he was lying down and not putting pressure on it, he was afraid to feel how much more pain he would feel if he tried to stand on it. There was no way he would be able to get out of the mine by himself.

Sam had apparently come to the same conclusion Mike did. She approached him and held out her hand. Mike took it and, with Sam's help, was able to get up off the ground. He nearly lost his balance and fell back down but Sam caught him and put his left arm around her shoulder to offer him support.

"I've got you Rambo," she said.

"Thanks….Ripley," Mike replied.

Sam looked at Mike with a raised eyebrow, "what did you call me?"

"You've been calling me Rambo to make fun of me when I said wearing my army jacket makes me look like an action hero. I happen to think you looked like an action hero yourself using the flamethrower. So I just thought I'd return the favor by giving you a nickname based on probably the most badass female action hero ever, Ellen Ripley."

"(chuckle) I like it. I could get used to being named after a woman who kills aliens. Though I'd say killing wendigos is harder since they can only be killed by fire."

"Well then I guess that makes you more of a badass than Ripley."

Sam chuckled at Mike's compliment. She began leading him forward but stopped when she noticed Mike didn't seem to be making an effort to move. She was about to ask what was wrong when she saw a tear forming in his eye. Following his line of sight, Sam saw that Mike was looking at Hannah's body again. It then dawned on her what Mike was thinking. There was no doubt Mike wanted to get out of the mine but there was one thing he needed to do before he could. It may not have seemed like much but saying goodbye to Hannah would allow Mike to finally find himself closure for the events of the past year. Realizing she needed some closure too, Sam guided Mike towards Hannah's body stopping just outside of the range of the flames. She then nodded to Mike encouraging him to speak when he was ready.

"Hannah," he said, "you didn't deserve any of this to happen to you. Knowing that Jessica and I played a part in your disappearance haunted us this past year but it was only three weeks ago when we saw the extent of the damage our stupid, immature prank caused you. I could never ask you to forgive us nor do I feel we deserve to be forgiven after what we've done."

"Nor could I ask you to forgive me Hannah," Sam joined in, "you were my best friend. but I wasn't there for you when you needed me. But…(sniffle)…I want you to know that I am really, really sorry."

"As are Jessica and I," Mike continued, "while we can't undo the suffering we've caused you, we owed it to you to at least end it. Rest in peace Hannah. The nightmare is finally over. You are free."

After observing a final moment of silence for Hannah, Sam started helping Mike out of the mine. They didn't get very far when they suddenly heard whimpering. Turning around revealed that the source of the whimpering was Wolfie who was seated and looking at Mike and Sam with what looked like sad, longing eyes. Looking into Wolfie's eyes, Mike and Sam' hearts melted when they realized what Wolfie was trying to tell them.

"I think someone wants to come with us," Sam said.

Mike knew Sam was right. In fact, while he was properly greeting Wolfie after the chaos with Hannah had settled, his first thought was to take Wolfie home with him. Unfortunately he didn't know if that would be possible. First he would have to see if Jessica was okay with the idea of keeping a wolf as a pet. Even if she initially thought he was crazy for suggesting it, Mike felt that she would warm up to the idea once he told her about his and Wolfie's friendship and how Wolfie had saved his life. However the biggest hurtle he would have to overcome if he wanted to keep Wolfie as a pet was his landlord. The building did allow tenants to keep certain kinds of pets but Mike doubted his landlord would allow him to keep a wolf. Though Mike had only know Wolfie a short time, he felt that the two of them had become great friends. After having lost so many of his friends in the last year, leaving Wolfie behind would seem like he was losing another one. But how could he take Wolfie off the mountain if he couldn't let Wolfie live with him and Jessica?

Sam seemed to pick up on Mike's hesitation, "you don't need to make a decision right now. We can at least take Wolfie with us out of the mine and figure out something then."

Initially Mike didn't like Sam's idea. It seemed like the only thing it would accomplish was delaying the inevitable fact that he was going to have to leave Wolfie behind. Before he could say no to Sam's idea however, Mike found himself looking into Wolfie's eyes again. They were practically pleading Mike to let Wolfe come with him. No matter how hard Mike tried to remind himself that there was no point in taking Wolfie with him, he couldn't say no to the pleading eyes that continued to stare at him. He reluctantly nodded to accept Sam's idea and then called for Wolfie to follow them. Wolfie's mood improved instantly and he let out one happy bark before getting up to follow Mike and Sam. He even positioned himself so that he was underneath Mike's free arm like he was trying to help support Mike as well. The height difference between the two of them made it hard for Wolfie to offer much support but Mike was still touched by the gesture.

"Good boy," he said.

Now that Mike had the support of Wolfie under one arm and Sam under the other, the trio made their way out of the mine. During the trek, Mike smiled as another thought came to him. With Sam's help, he had accomplished everything he had returned to Blackwood Mountain to do. As a result, there was nothing else for him to do in the mines. He, Sam and Wolfie were really leaving the mines….for the final time.

* * *

It may not have been that much warmer inside the processing facility but to Josh it felt like a tropical paradise. Evan as the rest of the group was still slightly shivering, Josh felt comfortable. He may have gotten used to the cold being trapped in the mine for three weeks but that didn't mean he liked it. The processing facility could have only had a one degree difference and that would have been enough for him. However comfortable the slight temperature increase may have made him, Josh wasn't feeling relaxed. For the tenth time since the group took shelter, Josh looked towards the mine entrance. He focused on that spot for a few seconds but then turned away and let out a depressing sigh. The sigh got the attention of Richter and Alice who were standing nearby.

"You okay son?" Richter asked.

"Yeah," Josh replied, "just feeling a bit restless."

"I don't blame you," said Alice, "I'm starting to get a little worried too. Sam has been gone awhile."

"I didn't say I was worried. Sam's fine and she'll come out of the mine as soon as she's found Mike. They've survived going up against Hannah before and they'll do it again. It's just the waiting that's bugging me."

Richter and Alice shared a concerned look. Josh sounded confident in what he was saying but there was still a slight hint of worry in his voice. They then looked at Blake and Tyler who were looking out towards the direction the rescuers were likely to come from. Blake could somehow sense they were looking in her direction and turned around. She shook her head to indicate that there wasn't any sign of the rescuers yet. However everyone in the group knew that it was only a matter of time before they did show up. Once they did, it would be difficult to get them to wait for Mike and Sam as the rescuers weren't aware they were on the mountain. In short, it would make the rescue efforts go more smoothly if Mike and Sam came out of the mine before the rescuers arrived.

"Company," Tyler said, "I think it's them."

While Richter remained with Josh, Alice joined Tyler and Blake and looked in the direction Tyler was pointing too. Sure enough, off in the distance, they could make out several figures slowly approaching their position. They could also hear voices but the distance made them unintelligible. It wasn't important to understand what was being said however as the purpose for the rescuers calling was so that the group could hear them coming and then respond to help reveal their location. Alice was about to call out to the rescuers but she was shushed by Blake.

"Let's wait until they get closer," she said, "they'll see this place and want to check it out regardless of if we call out to them or not. We need to give Michael and Sam a little more time."

Seconds turned into minutes and the rescuers continued to get closer. Josh's eyes were glued to the mine entrance but he couldn't see anything coming out of it. The rescuers were now close enough that their voices were understandable. One rescuer's voice was heard pointing out the processing facility to the others. The last bit of hope Josh had for Mike and Sam slowly began to fade. Dejected, Josh bowed his head. Richter gave Josh a comforting pat on the shoulder but stopped when something caught his eye. After doing a double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things, Richter's eyes widened in amazement when he realized what he was seeing.

"I'll be damned."

Richter's surprised reaction caused Josh to look back towards the mine entrance. His eyes widened and a his sad frown turned into a big smile when he saw what had pleasantly surprised Richter. Stumbling out of the mine was Sam supporting a wounded Mike on her shoulder as well as what looked like a wolf trying to support Mike's other arm. Though initially concerned by the sight of the wolf, Josh could see that Sam and Mike were talking to the wolf in what looked like a friendly manner and decided the wolf was not a threat. With the wolf appearing to be a friend to Sam and Mike and no sign of anything else coming out of the mine, Josh could only conclude that….

"THEY MADE IT!" he shouted.

Josh's cheer caused the rest of the group to look toward the mine entrance. When they saw Mike and Sam approaching, they cheered as well while exchanging high fives and hugs. Their cheers had not gone unnoticed by the rescuers as one of them shouted to the others that they could hear survivors. When the group's cheering had subsided, it was at that point they noticed that Mike appeared to be hurt and was relying on Sam's support to move. Seeing Mike hurt snapped Richter into full paramedic mode.

"Alice," he said as he stood up, "I'm going to go see what's wrong with Michael. Keep an eye on Josh for me until I get back."

"Okay Richter," Alice replied.

"Tyler and I will let the rescuers know what's going on," said Blake.

With everyone assigned a job, the group split up to carry them out. During that time, Josh remained seated as he looked around at all that was happening. In one direction, the girl he loved and the guy who played a key role in saving his life had emerged from the mine alive and were about to be tended to by Richter. In the other direction, Tyler and Blake were meeting the people that were going to rescue them. After sharing a relieved smile with Alice, Josh let out a happy sigh when he realized that the hell that he had been through for three weeks was finally coming to an end.

* * *

Seated in a makeshift medical tent, Mike gently rubbed his bandaged ankle. It still hurt a little but it was no longer swelling thanks to Richter's fine work. The scratches he had received during his fight with Hannah had also been treated by the medics in the rescue party that found him and the others. They had done a good job as well but Mike wished that Richter would have taken care of the scratches instead. All during the treatment, the medics were bombarding Mike with questions about what he was doing on the mountain…and they weren't the only ones.

Upon finding Mike and the group, the rescuers went through several reactions. They were initially relieved to see that Richter, Blake, Alice and Tyler were alive. Their relief quickly turned to sadness when the fates of the other trapped search party members were revealed. The sight of Josh caused mixed feelings from the rescuers as many of them still believed that he was the one responsible for the deaths of Matt, Chris, Emily and Ashley three weeks ago. Some of the police officers who were among the rescuers even drew their guns and attempted to arrest him. They probably would have if the rest of the group hadn't stood in front of Josh and Blake hadn't repeatedly ordered them to stand down. The police eventually did drop their weapons but they were still confused as to why the group was protecting a supposed killer. To Mike's surprise, Blake took the lead in answering their questions. She explained that the group had encountered a pack of rabid wolves while they were trapped in the mine. She went on to say that the wolves were responsible for the deaths of the other search party members and were likely responsible for the deaths three weeks ago. Though the rescuers were initially skeptical about Blake's story, it was hard for them to argue about it when the rest of the group backed her up.

Even with everything that happened when the rescuers saw Josh, there was still some excitement when they realized Mike and Sam were among the group. Though Mike knew it was unlikely to happen, he had hoped that he and Sam could have accomplished their mission without anyone finding out they had returned to the mountain. The reason being because he knew that everyone was going to have questions for him and the last thing he wanted to do was answer questions. From the time the group was found to the time Mike arrived at the medical tent, he had lost count of how many times he had to answer the question of why he was on the mountain. Playing off of Blake's story about the wolves, he explained that he and Sam had heard about people getting trapped in the mine and, fearing they might be killed by the same wolves that killed his friends, chose to return to the mountain to rescue them. When asked why he and Sam snuck onto the mountain instead of directly offering to help, Mike said it was because they didn't want to risk their help being rejected for a stupid reason like their age or people thinking they couldn't handle coming back to the place where a lot of their friends died. Those answers seemed to satisfy everyone but Mike couldn't help but roll his eyes in frustration when people talked about how he and Sam were going to be viewed as heroes for killing the wolves and saving Josh and the trapped search party members. He didn't enjoy the fame he had gotten for surviving the events of three weeks ago and he didn't want to become famous for the rescue either. Sadly it was something Mike felt was going to be inevitable.

Mike's thoughts were interrupted when one of the medics who had taken care of his scratches entered the tent. After giving a quick exam to make sure his ankle and scratches were healing properly, he said that Mike was free to go home. Though happy to hear that, Mike was also confused. Word about the rescue was still spreading across the mountain and Mike thought it was only going to be a matter of time before reporters showed up and he would have to talk to them. The medic explained that Blake had been insisting to everyone that Mike be allowed to leave because she felt he had been through enough and he shouldn't be forced to stay and answer a bunch of questions. Mike couldn't help but smile. He knew that he was going to have to thank Blake before leaving. In fact he felt that it was probably a good idea for him to check on everyone else before leaving, especially Sam and Josh. After thanking the medic for his help, Mike got up from his seat and started heading out of the medical tent.

The first person from the group that Mike ran into was Tyler. In a way, Mike was glad that Tyler was the first one he ran into. Both he and Blake were going to be the toughest to talk to due to the loses they endured during their week trapped in the mine. Tyler seemed to have been getting better towards the end but Mike knew from his own experiences that the pain of loss doesn't go away completely. His hunch seemed to be right as Tyler was found sitting on an exam table looking solemnly at a photograph he held in his hand.

"Is that of you and your wife?" Mike asked while pointing to the picture.

Tyler looked up from the photo surprised by the new voice but smiled when he saw it was Mike, "you could say that."

Tyler turned the photo around so that Mike could see it. Mike's heart sank when he saw who the picture featured. Besides Tyler and Maureen, there was a boy and a girl who Mike guessed were about eight and five years old respectively. Even if there wasn't an obvious resemblance between them, Mike could tell that they were Tyler and Maureen's kids. Besides the fact the picture gave Mike the sad realization that Maureen's passing had also left two kids without their mother, it also raised a new question that confused him.

"I know what you're thinking," Tyler said, "you're wondering why I was willing to put myself in danger to avenge Mo's death even though it meant risking our children becoming orphans."

Mike nodded.

"Looking back, I realize that it was beyond stupid for me to do that but…have you ever had a moment where your brain was telling you the logical smart thing to do but you ended up doing the impulsive thing your heart was telling you to do?"

The moment Tyler described was one Mike was all too familiar with. Another event he relieved several times since escaping the mountain three weeks ago was when he and Chris took Josh to the shed after Josh was revealed to be the psycho. Josh had repeatedly tried to tell Mike that he wasn't the one that attacked Jessica. Unfortunately Mike wouldn't listen to him because he was still saddened by Jessica's supposed death and the sadness turned into blind rage which caused him to jump to the conclusion that Josh being the psycho meant he was the one who killed her. If Mike had only taken a few minutes to let his brain put the pieces together, he might have figured out that Josh was telling the truth. Instead he let his rage get the better of him and he locked Josh in the shed. Now that Mike thought about it, the deaths of his friends could have been the result of the butterfly effect from that event.

Mike's thoughts were interrupted by Tyler continuing to speak, "Following my heart would have gotten me killed if it wasn't for you Michael. You kept me alive long enough to realize how irrational I was. I can only hope now that you ensuring that the mons…that Hannah won't hurt anyone again and giving me the chance to help Josh will allow Mo to find peace. Thank you Michael."

Tyler then held out his hand. Mike smiled as he shook it and pulled Tyler in for a hug. When the hug broke, Mike gave Tyler some final words of comfort and wished him and his kids the best. Tyler thanked Mike before moving towards a medic that was calling for him. After Tyler and the medic were gone from Mike's view, he resumed his exiting of the medical tent.

Just before Mike reached the exit, he ran into Alice. He was initially hesitant about approaching her because she was in an argument with a man in a suit. Mike didn't recognize the man but he had a strong feeling that it was Alice's agent. His hunch was proven right when Alice began pointing towards the door like she was telling the man to leave. The man attempted to plead with Alice not to make him leave but Alice persisted in pointing towards the door. With his head bowed in defeat, the man left the tent leaving Alice alone and letting out a frustrated sigh. Her mood quickly improved when she saw Mike.

"Hey," she said, "I'm guessing that you saw all that."

"Well I was standing right here so how I could I not?" Mike said jokingly as he paraphrased what Alice said when she overheard him and Sam talking in the mine earlier.

Alice chuckled, "yeah, I guess so. Until just now, that was my agent. Despite what I said in the mine, I was not going to fire him when we got out of the mine. He had no way of knowing what was going to happen when he suggested I help with the search."

"So why did you fire him then?"

"Because he started suggesting that we could get a lot of publicity and money from this ordeal with interviews, a new song and possibly a movie deal. I pointed out to him that a lot of people had died here this week but he just said that he would make sure they would got a small mention. However the emphasis would be on my survival story. He even thought that it would be a good idea if we talked about how I was rescued by you, a survivor of the events three weeks ago. That was the last straw. Even if I wanted to tell the story of what happened here, I refuse to let the people that died here get swept under the rug. It's funny, I guess you kind of rubbed off on me."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked with a confused expression.

"Ordinarily I would have agreed with that suggestion because I would have only focused on how it would affect me. But after witnessing everything you've done for us in the mine, I realized I was wrong about how nobody could be completely selfless. After you saved me from Norton, I decided that I was going to make more of an effort to put others before myself. Whether you intended to do it or not, you helped change me for the better. Thanks Mike."

Mike smiled,"anytime Alice."

"Mike, forgive me if this might be a bit forward but…would it be okay if I kissed you?"

The question caused Mike's smile to vanish and his cheeks to turn red with embarrassment, "I…I'm sorry."

"Well you did save my life. In all the movies, the girl thanks their rescuer with a kiss."

Mike really wanted to say no to Alice's request but he had a sneaking feeling that Alice wasn't the kind of girl who took no for an answer. It was a sticky situation. His heart ultimately belonged to Jessica and it was going to be hard enough for him to explain to her about the kiss he had with Sam. True he didn't have to tell her but he also knew that girl's had a way of finding those kinds of things out. So he felt it was going to be better for him to tell her sometime after he got home. Even if she forgave him for kissing Sam, he doubted she would be as forgiving if he kissed Alice. Thinking quickly, he came up with a solution that would allow him to accept Alice's request while still keeping him on Jessica's good side.

"I guess that's fine," he said, "but only on the cheek. I have a girlfriend remember?"

Alice chuckled but nodded to indicate that she would do as Mike asked. After giving him a short, gentle peck on the cheek, Alice said a final farewell to Mike before exiting the tent. Mike was about to follow her out when he noticed Richter talking with another medic. From what Mike could see, the medic was trying to give Richter an examination but Richter was insisting that he was fine. The sight made Mike chuckle. He had heard it said that doctors made lousy patients and it looked like the same was true for medics. When Richter noticed Mike watching, he gestured for Mike to come talk to him. As tempting as it was to keep watching Richter fight off the medic, Mike figured he owed it to Richter to help him after all the medical help he gave him. The medic gave up on conducting the examination when Mike approached and left the two alone.

"Thanks Michael," Richter said, "I don't know how many times I had to tell him that I didn't need an examination. Do I really look like someone who needs a physical?"

Mike shrugged, "I can't say. I mean you look fine but you did take a couple of nasty blows to the head in the mine. It might be a good idea to let a medic see if you have a concussion or not."

"I am a medic and I say I'm fine."

"Come on Richter. Do it for me."

Richter saw the pleading in Mike's face and sighed, "I guess it would be kind of dumb for you to have gone through the trouble of getting me out of the mine only for me to die from a concussion. Alright Michael. I'll do it. I heard from Detective Blake that you're sneaking out of here before the press arrive. You don't want to get your fifteen minutes of fame and hero status?"

Mike bowed his head somberly, "I'm no hero Richter. I've told you and the others about the things I've done and why I cam here to help you guys. There's nothing heroic in any of those things. Anyway, I've done what I came to do. I don't need any recognition for it."

Richter smiled as he put a comforting arm on Mike's shoulder, "I can understand not wanting the publicity. But if you want my opinion Michael, you are a hero. You knew how dangerous this mountain was but you came to help us anyway. Regardless of why you did it, it was still a brave and heroic thing you did coming up here to help us. That's the main thing that counts to everyone when they consider you a hero."

Richter's words made Mike smile, "I guess you're right. Thanks Richter."

"Anytime son. Well you better get going if you want to catch your friends."

The last statement confused Mike, "what do you mean?"

"Sam and Josh are about to be medevaced off the mountain. They're both fine, which is a miracle in Josh's case. However Josh still needs to get to a hospital for proper treatment. As for Sam, she refuses to leave his side and insisted on riding with him. Detective Blake is outside waiting to take you to them. Take care of yourself Michael."

"You too Richter," Mike said as he shook Richter's hand.

After exchanging one final farewell, Richter reluctantly left to look for the medic who was examining him earlier. Convinced Richter was in good hands, Mike exited the tent and closed up his jacket to prepare himself for the cold that awaited him outside. If Mike thought there was a lot of activity inside the tent, it was nothing compared to the activity outside. He quickly pulled his jacket up over his face to avoid attracting any attention to himself. Fortunately he didn't have to walk far before he noticed Blake waving him over.

As Mike approached Blake, he carefully tried to get a read on her mental state. When he first saw her after he and Sam exited the mine, Blake appeared to be all business when dealing with the rescue workers that found them. But Mike remembered what Sam had told him about Blake's initial reaction after he had lured Hannah away. Sure enough, when Mike got closer to Blake, he could see some redness in her eyes likely caused by recent crying. Before Mike could ask how she was doing, Blake had turned around to start leading him to where Sam and Josh were located.

"The helicopter will be here any minute," she said without making eye contact with Mike, "I figured you might want to say goodbye to Sam and Josh before they go."

"Detective…?" Mike started to say.

"Josh needs to get to hospital soon but the pilots will give you as much time as you need to talk to them."

"Detective…?"

"Once you're done, you can sneak down to where your car is parked and…."

"Detective!"

Mike's louder call had finally gotten Blake to stop and face him. The minute she stopped talking, Mike noticed some tears beginning to appear. He figured Blake's constant talking was her attempt to keep herself together. Mike quickly continued speaking in hopes that what he said might help Blake keep from completely breaking down.

"I'm sorry Detective. It's just that I wanted to say that I'm really sorry about what happened to Detective Powell. He and I may not have gotten along well in the beginning but I really wanted to save him along with everyone else. I was ready and willing to take his blowtorch so that he didn't have to be the one who risked his life to save Sam. But…I guess the police officer in him wouldn't let him ignore someone in need…even someone he didn't like. For what it's worth, I will always consider Detective Powell a hero when I think about what he did so that Sam and I could save you and the others."

It had been a long shot, but to Mike's surprise, his words worked. They had managed to keep Blake from losing it. Instead of waterfalls coming out of her eyes, there were only small, happy tears. As the smile on her face grew, she surprised Mike again by pulling him in for a hug.

"Thank you Michael," she said, "I needed to hear that."

"Anytime Detective," Mike replied while patting Blake on the back.

Blake continued speaking after the hug broke and she wiped some of the tears from her eyes, "you know, contrary to what you might have been thinking, Powell was actually the senior officer between the two of us."

"Really?" Mike asked. "I got the impression that you were in charge because everyone always seemed to look to you for direction."

"You saw how explosive Powell's temper could get. It wasn't his intention but that temper made him unapproachable. Since I was the only one who could calm him down, the others preferred me being in charge. For the most part, Powell was okay with that. Ever since I became his partner as a rookie detective, he taught me everything I know about being a good detective and a good cop in general so he had no reason to doubt my judgement."

"Forgive me Detective but, from what I saw, it seemed like there wasn't a decision of yours that he didn't doubt. Now they were decisions that revolved around Sam and me so I understand his reasons for doubting them. I'm just saying that…"

"I know what you're saying Michael. Ordinarily David wouldn't have argued with my decision to help you find Josh…but…anybody would put the safety of their loved ones first when they're in danger."

Blake's statement initially confused Mike before he realized that she had referred to Powell by his first name. On the surface that may not have seemed like much. If Blake and Powell were friends outside of work, then it would be natural for them to refer to each other by their first names. But Mike was getting the feeling that it might have been more than that. Then he noticed that Blake had put her hand on her abdomen. Suddenly the pieces came together in Mike's head and his eyes widened. Then, like when he learned about Tyler's family, his heart sank. He now understood the real reason Powell's death had strongly affected Blake.

"Detective…," he stammered, "I…I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. Not many people do. The department tends to frown upon it's officers fraternizing with each other so David and I had to keep it a secret. Shortly after we interviewed you and Sam at the station, we found out that we were going to have a baby. We knew it was only a matter of time before the department learned about what we were doing and split us up so we decided that looking for Josh would be our last case together. I never would have guessed that it would be our last case in more ways than one (sniffle) Though I certainly almost made it that way myself when I thought he was going to become a monster and I almost shot him. Believe me Michael, it was only because of our baby that I was so hesitant about pulling the trigger. But I loved him too much to let him possibly turn into a monster. Thankfully you stopped me from making a terrible mistake and now I can tell our baby that its father died a hero. Thank you Michael, for everything."

Mike smiled, "you're welcome and congratulations. I know you will be a great mother and that you will ensure the baby will know how great their father was."

A new happy tear appeared in Blake's eye as she nodded to show her appreciation for Mike's comment. After quickly wiping the tears from her eyes, Blake continued to lead Mike to the medevac landing zone. Josh was at the landing zone with a couple of medics when Mike and Blake arrived. Not surprisingly, Sam was with him too. What was a surprise however was that Wolfie was with them too. Though Mike was able to convince everyone that he was not dangerous, Wolfie was not allowed to enter the medical tent. As a result, Mike hadn't seen Wolfie since he went inside the tent. Wolfie noticed Mike approaching and ran to greet him. Fortunately Mike noticed Wolfie coming otherwise he might have been tackled when Wolfie reached him. Instead Mike dropped down to Wolfie's level and greeted him by scratching him behind the ears. Wolfie returned the greeting by licking Mike's face.

"Hey boy," said Mike, "it's good to see you too. Now come on, let's go see Sam and Josh."

Wolfie barked happily at Mike's suggestion and took off back towards Sam and Josh. As Mike got closer, he noticed something peculiar. Even with the excitement of Wolfie running back and forth between them, Sam and Josh didn't seem to be looking in his direction. He called out to them to see if that would get their attention. A second attempt to call them was met with the same result. Before he could make a third attempt, he had gotten close enough to see what was going on. He smiled as his face turned slightly red when he saw what he had almost interrupted. Sam and Josh were in the middle of sharing a passionate kiss. It may have been rude to stare but Mike couldn't help looking at them and feeling happy for them. After everything the pair had been through, it was nice to see them enjoying a moment of happiness. Sadly, as much as Mike didn't want to interrupt them, he really wanted to talk to Sam and Josh before the helicopter arrived. He cleared his throat and this time Sam and Josh heard him and stopped kissing.

"Hey Mike," Sam said while pretending to sound annoyed by Mike's interruption, "I thought you would have been swarmed by the press by now."

Mike chuckled as he gestured to Blake, "well Detective Blake had a hand in that."

"Yeah," said Blake, "I had a strong feeling that Michael didn't want to stay on this mountain longer than he had to and answer a bunch of stupid questions. I only wish I could have kept them from learning about Michael in the first place. Unfortunately too many of the people who rescued us let the word out that he was on the mountain and that he came here to rescue us from the "wolves" that were attacking us. Sooner or later, everyone's going to want to talk to 'The Hero of Blackwood Mountain.'"

Blake's news made Mike let out a depressing sigh. The last three weeks had been rough on him as he had to deal with people wanting to talk to him about his last time on the mountain. It was even harder for Jessica since she was the one who received the most scars and all people wanted to know was how she got them. Mike more than once had to ward off some persistent reporters and other random people who approached them to ask about the mountain. It was only because of Mike's support that Jessica had made the progress she did in recovering emotionally as well as physically. Now it was looking like it was going to happen all over again. But then the words he heard from Richter came back to him. The more he thought about it, the more Mike decided that at least this time there was a valid reason for why people would want to talk to him. Unlike last time where he was just one of the lucky few who had survived, this time he actually helped other people survive too. As long as Mike remembered that, he figured that he could handle whatever attention his actions brought him.

"Well," he said with a smile, "they are going to have to wait a little longer. Right now, looking at these two love birds is making me want to go home and give my girl a kiss and hold her in my arms again."

"What's the matter Mike?" Josh asked in a humorous tone, "you didn't get enough action when you were kissing my girl down in the mine?"

(SMACK)

Josh's joke resulted in him getting smacked in the back of the head by Sam.

"Ow," he said as he rubbed his head, "go easy on me Sam. You heard the doctor. I'm very fragile right now."

Sam laughed, "that is not what he said and you know it. If I'm going to be your girl now, let's get one thing clear. We don't talk about my kiss with Mike EVER again."

"Okay," Josh groaned, "I promise."

"I have to say Josh," Mike said with a chuckle, "you're still a little crazy. Good thing Sam's back to her normal self. She might be able to help bring you around too."

"Are you sure Mike?" Sam asked as a familiar, creepy smile appeared on her face. "Am I acting like my old self right now?"

Mike's smile vanished. In its place was an expression of confusion and nervousness. He had thought that he would never see that smile again. It was now looking like Sam hadn't fully returned to normal like he had thought. Suddenly Sam, Josh and Blake burst out in laughter. Realizing that he had fallen for a cruel joke, Mike groaned and rolled his eyes.

"You two deserve each other," he said to Josh and Sam in an attempt at a comeback.

"Don't we know it," Sam said as she leaned in to give Josh another kiss.

The kiss broke shortly afterward and Josh shifted to a more serious tone, "look Mike, I want you to know that I forgive you for what happened three weeks ago. If the roles had been reversed, I probably would have done the same thing. The important thing is that you risked your life to come back and rescue me. I'd say you've done more than enough to make up for what happened. Thanks to you, I'm still alive and I got the chance to tell Sam how I feel. So what do you say? Can we let bygones be bygones?"

Josh held out his hand which Mike promptly shook.

"You bet," said Mike, "I'll bet your anxious to get back home."

"Actually Mike," Josh replied, "I was thinking that once I've recovered, I'm going to tell my parents that I want to get our house up here rebuilt and come live on the mountain."

Mike's eyes widened in surprise, "what?! After everything you've been though up here. You want to come back and make this place your home?! Sam, tell him that's a crazy idea."

"I can't Mike," Sam replied, "because I'm planning on living here with him."

This time Mike's jaw dropped, "okay, after that trick you all played on me, I can't tell if you two are serious or not. Why in the world would both of you want to live on a mountain that has brought us nothing but pain and suffering the past year."

"Hear me out Mike," said Sam, "while you were being looked at, Josh and I were talking and we realized something. You and I might have killed the last of the wendigos up here but their spirits are still here waiting to possess anyone else who might resort to cannibalism on this mountain. With the flamethrower guy dead, there's no one here to keep that from happening. Josh and I have decided that we're going to live here and continue his work."

"You sure Sam?" Mike asked, "I mean, it's very noble of you two to want to help keep other people from becoming wendigos. But are you really willing to make this big of a change so suddenly?"

"Mike, my parents were about to send me to a mental institution before I agreed to come here with you. I'm pretty sure my decision to come here is going to make them think I need to go there more than they already did. Given the choice, I'll take a cursed mountain over a mental institution any day. As long as Josh and I are together, that's all I need up here."

"Plus they're going to have me to help them," said Blake, "I didn't listen to you before Michael when you told me about what was up here. Now that I've seen it for myself, I will do everything in my power to ensure that no one except for Josh and Sam are allowed on this mountain again."

It may have sounded like a crazy idea initially but as Mike looked at the confident expressions on Josh, Sam and Blake's faces, the idea started to seem plausible. He had told Sam when they first entered the sanatorium that he wanted to ensure that no one ever became a victim of the wendigo curse again. The idea that the trio had proposed seemed like the best way to do it. Looking closer at Sam's expression, Mike realized there was another reason for why she was volunteering to stay. She had said that the source of her guilt was because she didn't do anything to help save their friends three weeks ago. Staying on the mountain would be her way of redeeming herself similar to how Mike found his redemption by saving Josh and the others.

(BARK)

Seeming to want to cast his opinion on the matter, Wolfie began barking in an excited manner. Mike couldn't help but smile as he patted Wolfie on the head. With four votes in favor of the idea, how could he say no. Sam and Josh had made their decision and as their friend, Mike needed to be there for them. Suddenly another thought popped into his head as he continued patting Wolfie's head. There was one final thing that needed to be settled before Josh and Sam were medevaced to the hospital. With the new development of Sam and Josh's decision to stay on the mountain, it gave Mike a new option for how to settle it.

"Sam, Josh, if you two are going to be staying up here, would you be willing to take care of Wolfie for me?"

"Why Mike?" Sam asked, "you don't want to take him with you?"

"Of course I want to take him with me. Unfortunately I have to be realistic. He's a wolf and this mountain is his natural habitat. He's not going to be happy living in an apartment in the city. However I'm sure he wouldn't mind having a friend to take care of him up here. You seemed to grow on him about as quickly as I did. What do you say Sam? Will you and Josh take care of him?"

Sam looked to Josh who gave his approval with a nod. She then smiled as she turned to Wolfie and called him over. Wolfie ran to her and Josh's waiting arms where they greeted him with hugs and kisses. Mike was having a difficult time holding back the tears as he looked at the three of them together. They looked like a family. Though in a way, that's what they were going to be now. Between the sight in front of him and the talks he had with the others, Mike could finally tell himself that he had done good coming back to the mountain.

The sound of a helicopter caught Mike's attention. He turned towards the source of the sound and saw the helicopter approaching. It was still a ways from their location but it wouldn't be long before it reached them. Mike was also able to make out a red cross on the side of the helicopter. The red cross confirmed that it was the medevac helicopter coming to take Josh to the hospital. With only a few minutes left before Josh and Sam would be airborne, Mike knew he was going to have to break up the happy moment happening in front of him so that he could say goodbyes.

"Looks like your ride is coming," he said, "I should probably get going too. I'm really happy for both of you and I hope you two will be happy and safe up here. I wish I could say Jess and I will come and visit…but…"

"It's okay Mike," Sam said, "we understand. We don't blame either you or Jessica for never wanting to come back to this mountain again. Fortunately I don't think Josh and I will need to be up here 24/7. We'll come down to visit you two as often as we can. You just promise that you'll let us know when wedding bells are about to ring for you and Jessica."

Mike chuckled, "as long as you promise to do the same if it happens for you two."

"Deal," replied Josh as he shook Mike's hand and pulled him in for a goodbye hug.

Mike broke his hug with Josh and turned to Sam, "Thank you Sam, for everything. I wouldn't have been able to pull this rescue off without your help and I likely wouldn't be alive right now if you hadn't saved my life again. If there's ever anything I can do for you in return…"

"Mike," Sam said as she held up her hand to silence Mike, "you're welcome but there's no need for that. We're already even because you saved my life too, albeit in a different way. I probably would be living the rest of my life alone as a cold, emotionless woman in a mental institution if you hadn't brought me here. Thanks to you, I'm beginning to feel like my old self again and I'm with Josh now. Thank you Mike, for everything."

"You're welcome Sam," Mike replied as he gave Sam a hug goodbye.

After one final exchange of good wishes, Mike left Sam and Josh to be picked up by the helicopter which at that point was on top of their location and beginning to touchdown. He stood with Blake outside the landing zone and watched as the medics loaded Josh into the helicopter. Sam and Wolfie climbed in after him. When the three of them were on board and the doors were closed, the helicopter took off. Mike could see Sam waving to him prompting him to smile and wave back. He remained where he was watching the helicopter until it was no longer in his sight.

"Well Detective," said Mike, "I'll be going now. You take care of yourself…and the baby. If you ever need any help, just give me a call. Jessica and I would be glad to help anyway we can."

"Thanks Michael," Blake replied as she shook Mike's hand, "I'll keep that in mind. You take care of yourself too. And please, call me Kate."

"Ok Kate and you can call me Mike. So long Kate.

"So long…Mike."

With the final goodbyes exchanged, Blake started walking back to the medical tent while Mike headed in the opposite direction. It meant he was going to be walking away from where his car was parked but he didn't want to risk running into the press by returning to the parking area via the medical tent. Fortunately, unlike when he and Sam first arrived on the mountain, he didn't have to worry about running into anyone. With the search for Josh officially over and the trapped search party members rescued, all the activity was at the medical tent. As long as Mike kept his distance from the tent, nobody would see him walking by on his way to the parking lot.

When Mike reached the parking lot, he was relieved to see that no one was around. Still he moved at a brisk pace to his car in case there was someone behind him on their way to the parking lot. It was only when he was inside his car that he was able to stop and take a breath. With each breath, he went from feeling anxious to relaxed and then finally a mixture of happiness and sadness. A lot had happened since he had returned to Blackwood Mountain and there hadn't been a lot of time for him to process all of it. Now that he was alone in the peace and quiet of his car, he had all the time he needed to do that. It was hard for him to believe but he had managed to survive what he considered to be a suicide mission. Of course he didn't complete it unscathed. Besides the physical injuries, the events of his mission had added new mental and emotional scars on top of the ones he got three weeks ago and was still recovering from. It was likely that all his scars were never going to go away completely but the final words he had with the others were helping to lessen the pain. He had done good by coming back to the mountain and that was the important thing.

Several chimes from his cell phone snapped Mike out of his thought. Initially confused by the multiple chimes, Mike realized that he was in one of the few spots on the mountain where cell phones could get reception, spotty though it may be. His phone was now able to pick up whatever messages he had received while he was on the mountain. There were five new text messages. According to the timestamps, they were all sent sometime after the group had been rescued. Of the five messages, two were from Mike's father while the other three were from Jessica. Mike didn't bother opening the messages from his father. The little bit of the messages Mike could see without opening them indicated that they were not happy ones. Mike remembered how Blake had mentioned that word was already getting out that he was on the mountain. His father had likely heard the news and realized the true reason he wanted to borrow the shotgun. Feeling that he at least needed to let his father know that he was okay, Mike quickly sent a text saying that he was fine and that he would explain the whole story when he got home. He then opened the messages from Jessica. As he read each one, it became apparent that she was getting more and more anxious as she sent them.

"THE NEWS IS REPORTING THAT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN RESCUED FROM THE MOUNTAIN. WAS THAT YOU? ARE YOU OKAY? TEXT ME WHEN YOU CAN."

"ONE OF THE SEARCH VOLUNTEERS MENTIONED YOUR NAME. THEY SAID YOU FOUND THE TRAPPED VOLUNTEERS IN THE MINE AND THAT YOU WERE THE ONE THAT HELPED THEM GET OUT. NOBODY HAS MENTIONED WHETHER YOU MADE IT OUT OR NOT. PLEASE TEXT ME TO LET ME KNOW YOU'RE ALRIGHT."

"MIKE! FORGET TEXTING! CALL ME PLEASE! I NEED TO HEAR YOUR VOICE! I'M NOT SEEING YOU ANYWHERE ON THE NEWS. THE REPORTERS ARE SAYING THAT THEY'VE TRIED TO REACH OUT TO YOU BUT NOBODY AT THE CAMP KNEW WHERE YOU WERE. SOME OF THE REPORTERS ARE EVEN THINKING THAT YOU MIGHT BE DEAD. PLEASE MIKE! LET ME KNOW YOU'RE OKAY!"

The minute Mike finished reading Jessica's last message, he started his car and pulled out of the parking area. If he was going to call Jessica, he needed to get to a spot with better cell service. It wasn't until he got close to the bottom of the mountain that he got a strong enough signal. He pulled over to the side and called Jessica's phone. The phone made only one dial tone before Jessica answered. Mike figured she must have been waiting by her phone for his call.

"Mike?" Jessica said in an anxious tone.

"Yeah Jess" Mike replied in a soothing voice to help calm Jessica down, "it's me. I'm okay."

Mike heard Jessica breathe a relived sigh, "thank God. I was so worried. I've been watching the news waiting for new information about you."

"I know. I'm sorry I took so long to respond to your messages but I only got them a few minutes ago and I needed to get to a place with better service so that I could call you. Jess, we did it. Sam and I found Josh. He was alive and Sam's accompanying him to the hospital now."

"That's wonderful Mike. The news said that you rescued four other people as well."

Mike sighed, "yeah but I couldn't save the other eleven search party members who were trapped. Six were dead before I arrived and five others died despite my best efforts to help them."

"I'm sorry Mike. I'm sure you did everything you could. You still saved Josh and four other people who might not have survived if you hadn't gone there. I know I wasn't thrilled about you going back to the mountain but it was good that you did. I'm proud of you Mike."

"Thanks Jess."

"What about Sam? You said she was going with Josh to the hospital. Is she doing better?"

"Yes but we'll talk about the details later. Right now, I just wanted to let you know that…(sigh)…it's over Jess. The nightmare is finally over. I'm on my way home now."

"That's great Mike. Hurry back. I'll be here waiting for you. I love you."

"I love you too."

When Mike ended his call with Jessica, he took a look at his rear view mirror. Blackwood Mountain was still in its view. He put the car in gear and continued driving. Occasionally he would glance in the mirror and see the mountain getting smaller as he drove further away. Several glances later, he observed the mountain vanishing from his view…never to be seen by him again.

**THE END**


End file.
